The flag was designed in 1993 by John C. Vaughan from Sydney and it was first hoisted on the island in 1998. It is not official, the flag of Australia is used here. The design goes back to the command flag of Lord Richard Howe during the naval battle of Ouessant (1778) against France. Lord Howe was the British Naval Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty. The blue flag shows, like the British flag of that time, a St. George's cross and a St. Andrew's cross and in the middle a golden disc, which stands for the sun. The silhouette of the island can be found on the disk. The flag image is intended to show reflective rays of the sun on blue water.
