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stands for the country itself and those who insult the flag insult the people” (Department of
Public Instruction, 1933, p. 72). The point of view of this narrative in its entirety is one of
loyalty to the Empire, representative of Great Britain, as a legitimate focus of patriotism.
Encouraging students to develop a deep patriotism for Great Britain (identified as the heart of
the Empire throughout the two narratives here) is further articulated in, The Australian Flag
(Department of Public Instruction, 1933, pp. 74-76). Except for the opening paragraph, the
remainder of the narrative is technical (see Source 5.4), explaining the features of the
Australian and Queensland flags and their historical development. The opening paragraph
emphasises the loyalty that students are encouraged to develop for Great Britain, even at the
expense of Australia. The excerpt reads:
In a former lesson we were told about the Union Jack, the flag of the great Empire to
which we are proud to belong. In the present lesson we shall learn about another
flag—that of the country in which we dwell. (Department of Public Instruction,
1933, p. 74)
In this extract, specific word choice such as “...the Empire to which we are proud to belong”
is given superiority over Australia, where it is considered, rather than somewhere students
belong, but rather “...the country in which we dwell” (Department of Public Instruction,
1933, p. 74). Here, it is clearly articulated that whilst the students may live in Australia, they
belong to Great Britain. The perspective of Empire as superior to an individual nation is
clearly exposed.
An overarching idea that emerges from this content is the school curriculum as conservative
and ignorant of current socio-political discourses in the public arena. What is interesting
about the inclusion of this narrative (see Source 5.4) is not so much the historical explanation
of the development of Great Britain’s flag, but more the moral lesson attached to the end of
the narrative; encouraging school students to show loyalty to Great Britain through the
symbolism of the flag. This is especially interesting given the year this book was published,
24 years post WWI, after Australia was considered as having ‘come of age’, and during a
time when the general public was fiercely debating whether Australia should continue
repaying British war loans (especially in New South Wales by Premier Lang). Here, both the
conservatism of school curriculum and its single-minded approach to presenting knowledge
as static and fixed is glaringly apparent.
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