How to draw the flag of Australia

The flag of Australia is a navy blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, the large seven-pointed Commonwealth Star beneath it, and the five stars of the Southern Cross in the fly. Below is how to construct it step by step, with the measurements written as fractions so they work at any size — on paper, on a whiteboard or in an art program. If you would rather test yourself first, you can draw it from memory and get scored.

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Step by step

  1. Start with a rectangle in the proportions 2:1. If you are working on paper, 20 cm wide by 10 cm tall is a convenient size — every measurement below is given as a fraction, so any size works as long as the shape is right.
  2. Fill the whole rectangle with navy blue (#012169).
  3. Draw the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter. Build it in order: navy field, then the wide white diagonals, the narrower red diagonals offset inside them, then the white upright cross and the red cross on top of it.
  4. Add a white 7-pointed star, 15% of the height in radius, at 25% across and 75% down.
  5. Add a white 7-pointed star, 7% of the height in radius, at 75% across and 17% down.
  6. Add a white 7-pointed star, 7% of the height in radius, at 63% across and 44% down.
  7. Add a white 7-pointed star, 7% of the height in radius, at 86% across and 37% down.
  8. Add a white 7-pointed star, 7% of the height in radius, at 75% across and 83% down.
  9. Add a white 5-pointed star, 4% of the height in radius, at 80% across and 54% down.

The colours

These are the shades used in the reference drawing. Official specifications are usually given in Pantone; the hex values below are the closest common screen equivalents.

The mistakes people make

One more thing worth knowing: Australia belongs to the Union Jack cantons. The canton is identical; the star arrangement in the fly is what you are actually being tested on. If you are drawing several flags, do the ones in this group back to back — the differences stick far better that way.

Test yourself

Reading how a flag is built and being able to reproduce it from memory are different skills, and the gap between them is bigger than most people expect. Draw the flag of Australia from memory and the game will score how close you got, or try today's flag if you want to be surprised.

Other flags to draw