The Australian Border Force Flag is the flag flown by

Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control enforcement, investigations, compliance and detention operations in Australia. Thr ...

vessels and sometimes on ABF buildings. Any vessel acting in a customs capacity must fly this flag. The current version is an

Australian National Flag The flag of Australia, also known as the Australian Blue Ensign, is based on the British Blue Ensign—a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter—augmented with a large white seven-pointed star (the Commonwealth Star) and a r ...

with the words "AUSTRALIAN BORDER FORCE" added in bold between the Commonwealth Star and the lower part of the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

. This flag was adopted by regulations coming into force on 1 July 2015.

History

Colonial customs flags

English law has required customs vessels to fly a distinctive flag since at least 1784. The earliest recorded Customs flag in Australia is the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Customs House Ensign of 1832, which included in the Code of Signals for the Colony of New South Wales in the NSW Calendar and Post Office Directory for that year. The flag was a British Red Ensign, defaced with a gold crown over the letters CH in the

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

. A later New South Wales Customs Colonial Flag was described by a regulation published in the ''Supplement to the NSW Government Gazette'', No. 193, Friday, 12 May 1882:

"The proper ensign for Customs shall be the red English ensign with the addition of a white cross, being in the form and proportion the same as the
white ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...
, but with the colours of the flag reversed, and with the letters CH in the outer lower quarter of the flag; and the pendant shall be the red pendant."

File:New South Wales Customs House Flag (1832).svg , 1832 File:New South Wales Customs Flag 1882-1901.svg, 1882

Commonwealth customs flags

The Customs Act 1901 was passed soon after

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

, and like previous British and colonial legislation, required the use of a customs flag. The first flag appointed under this act was specified in Section 14 of the Customs Regulations, which were gazetted on 1 October 1901 in the ''Commonwealth of Australia Gazette'' No. 53, page 172:

"The Customs flag shall be the
Blue Ensign The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or Defacement (flag), defaced with a Heraldic badge, ...
, with the addition in the fly of the letters "HMC" in bold character, and the word 'Australia'".

In 1903, the flag was changed from a defaced British blue ensign, to a defaced Australian blue ensign. An order in Council, dated 16 June 1904, notes that the word "AUSTRALIA" was also removed from the flag. The flag changed again when the Commonwealth star of the national flag gained an extra point in 1908. The text "HMC" was changed to the word "CUSTOMS" by amendment SR297, published 17 December 1987 and commencing 1 January 1988. When customs functions were taken over by the newly created

on 1 July 2015, the Customs Regulations were changed to replace "CUSTOMS" with "AUSTRALIAN BORDER FORCE". However, on 17 July 2015, the flag seen flying at an ABF building did not contain the word "AUSTRALIAN". File:Australian Customs Flag 1901-1903.svg, 1901-1903 File:Australian Customs Flag 1903-1904.svg, 1903-1904 File:Australian Customs Flag 1904-1909.svg, 1904-1909 File:Australian Customs Flag 1909-1988.svg, 1909-1988 File:Australian Customs Flag 1988-2015.svg, 1988-2015 File:Australian Border Force Flag 2015.svg, Used in 2015 File:Australian Border Force Flag.svg, 2015-present

References

*P. Chinn & K. Hannan
Flying the Customs flag
''Manifest'' Winter 2005, Australian Customs Service ISSN 1329-7961. Page 27. *''A Customs Flag'', ''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide), 27 October 1903. *
Australia has a new flag and it's sending quite the message
', Buzzfeed, 17 July 2015.
Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Regulation 2015

External links

* {{Australian Flags Flags of Australia Southern Cross flags Flags introduced in 1988