Actually, people should stop perpetuating that 'under the flag' nonsense. The current Australian (colonial) flag was not the official Australian national flag until 1954. Thus, it did not fly and was not 'fought under' - if you want to run that argument you must accept that the entire Australian Pacific forces were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, therefore, if they fought 'under' any 'flag' it was the 48 star United States' Flag.
You should stop perpetuating nonsense.
Both World Wars were fought under the flag. On 3 September 1901, the new Australian flag flew for the first time from the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.The competition-winning designs were submitted to the British Colonial Secretary in 1902. Prime Minister Edmund Barton announced in the Commonwealth Gazette that King Edward VII had officially approved the design as the flag of Australia on 11 February 1903. The published version made all the stars in the Southern Cross seven-pointed apart from the smallest, and is the same as the current design except the six-pointed Commonwealth Star. The current seven-pointed Commonwealth Star version was introduced by a proclamation dated 8 December 1908. The dimensions were formally gazetted in 1934, and in 1954 the flag became recognised by, and legally defined in, the
Flags Act 1953, as the
Australian National Flag.
