MEPX
Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The vocabulary
  2. 2Design principles
  3. 3Colours and their families
  4. 4Symbols
  5. 5Flags of Europe
  6. 6Flags of Asia
  7. 7Flags of Africa
  8. 8Flags of the Americas
  9. 9Flags of Oceania
  10. 10Beyond national flags

Chapter 9 of 10

Flags of Oceania

Southern skies.

Common elements

The Southern Cross appears on Australian, New Zealand, Samoan and Papua New Guinean flags, and several retain a Union Flag canton from colonial history.

  • Papua New Guinea's flag was designed by a teenager in 1971.
  • Debates about removing colonial cantons recur regularly.

Small states

Pacific flags often depict the ocean, islands or specific stars, reflecting geography that is mostly water.