File talk:Flag of Australia.svg

Colours

They don't seem right. I've always thought the shade of blue was the same as in the Union Jack, or (obviously) the Blue Ensign, but opening the flag in an image/vector editor shows that this is not the case. --Sunoco (talk) 00:07, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree, the blue does seem slightly abnormal. 118.209.40.152 (talk) 14:55, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

The colours are clearly wrong on so many levels but particularly the blue: it is far too bright. Problems and points of discussion include:

1. Web-safe colours are now basically irrelevant since displays with less than true colour haven’t been made for a decade or more and are probably exceedingly rare. Even so, I argue that the web-safe colour in use in this SVG isn’t even the best web-safe approximation of the actual darker shade. 2. The article “Flag of Australia” already shows a darker blue version that’s a closer approximation of the intended colour, but it’s likely this still isn’t the best or most correct RGB approximation, and that’s not to speak of the red being used. 3. The bright blue in this SVG is not a match to the blue being used in the Australian Red and White Ensign SVGs depicted in the Flag of Australia article and their own relevant articles. They should be consistent. 4. The official Flags Act 1953 shows a representation of the colours (though not specified specifically) in which the shade of blue can best be described as a very dark or Navy blue. This is the most official document pertaining to the flag and it shows that Wikipedia’s SVG is way off and not even close. Source: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2008C00376 5. In New South Wales, the relevent act states that the NSW flag. Why is this relevent? Because the NSW (and other state flags) existed before the Australian national flag. It’s also likely that there’s intended to be consistency between the shades used in the two flags such that they may be flown together and not appear to mis-match given their similarities. 6. I argue that the style guides posted by relevant government departments are only “guides” and “semi-official” in nature. They’re not declarations of the official colour and it’s possible even they got it wrong. 7. Since the specific shades are not defined in legislation, consistency is probably the one principle that remains paramount. For this, we could look to any official definition of the Union flag from which the ensigns are based and also other Australian Ensigns and State flags in use.

I think I’ve pretty comprehensively debunked the current SVG as being far too light, particularly the blue. It needs to be fixed. Because of Wikipedia’s prominence, I’ve seen this error propegate widely. The first port of call as a respectable source for most people looking for the Australian flag is Wikipedia.

I can investigate further, but in the short-term I recommend the darker version be used until I or someone else presents the evidence for a better version. Or does someone want to sample the colours in the legislation and just use that? Simonmetcalf (talk) 10:58, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

However the colour of the flag on the prime minster and cabinet website is even brighter [1]TheTrainNoch (talk) 14:31, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

I agree. The blue in particular looks too bright to me. Alas, as Wikipedians, we try to respect guidelines where they are given, and the Australian government's style guidelines specify these colours. We should therefore be addressing our concerns to our government, not to Wikipedia, by lobbying to have these official colours re-specified to something more realistically dark. That way, the flag will look better not just in Wikipedia but on all websites that use those recommended colours. Ian Fieggen (talk) 20:26, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

Edit request from Majormax, 11 June 2010

{{editprotected}} Typo, the formation of the stars is called the "Southern Cross".

AWHS (talk) 06:35, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but you're going to have to put a request for this on commons:File talk:Flag of Australia.svg as it is protected over there. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 07:58, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Issues with "local copy"

This "local copy" of the flag is not the most current version available on Wikimedia. Nor does it acknowledge the various authors along the way (of which I am one, although little of my original code now exists) who have contributed to the file we see today.

While I can see the merit in having some degree of protection, it would also be a good idea to periodically review such protected files for currency, not to mention giving credit where credit is due, at the very least to credit the most recent author. Ian Fieggen (talk) 00:18, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

So is it possible to synchronize with Wikimedia Commons? --Great Brightstar (talk) 15:09, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

 Done I've put a link to the file history on Commons for the authors. — JJMC89 (T·C) 17:16, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Error when scaling PNG to 2000+px

When I scale the PNG image to anything above the 2000px, there is an error that removes the star on the bottom left corner. Fakenoodle (talk) 23:04, 26 April 2021 (UTC)Fakenoodle