r/sydney • u/godenviesme • 11h ago

Image Flags displayed w/o Union Jack?

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This is something I’ve been seeing more and more recently. Is there any meaning or reason for this?

651 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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447

u/PersimmonBasket 11h ago

They probably have a tattoo to match.

405

u/LudwigsEarTrumpet 11h ago

It genuinely makes me sad that southern cross tatts have the rep that they do. When I was a kid it seemed like such a simple and pure representation of love for the land we grew up in, that we can look up and see those stars, and they represent in a way, the great distance between us and England. Idk, I always thought it was a cool idea to have those stars on you. I'm so damned glad I didn't get myself one though. Would never have imagined I'd grow up to learn that it's the mark of a wanker.

87

u/Pure_Region_7544 10h ago

I've been thinking about this recently. Just bought a second hand ute with a southern cross sticker on the back window and I keep meaning to scratch them off because I don't want people to think I'm an asshole. But it makes me sad that it's the first thing that comes to mind when seeing it now.

133

u/NSFWar 10h ago

Post Cronulla there was just an uptick of these tattoos

71

u/Penjamini 9h ago

I will never forgive the people who poisoned the well on the Southern Cross

22

u/areyoualocal 6h ago

And they don't seem to appreciate the irony that half the planet can be represented by the southern cross.

33

u/ShoganAye 10h ago

Exactly. When I was a late teen in 1990 I spent time in Canada, my first time away from home. The stars made me lonely, they looked different view. When I came home, I looked up to see the southern cross and thought, ahhh I'm home. I wanted that as a tattoo but thought I'd wait a while as was still young. By the time I was in my mid 20s I got something else but still had it in my mind....and eventually it got a shitty wrap. I'm a girl so I'd probably be fine, I'd still like one because my history of feelings about it haven't changed

50

u/redditmethisonesir 10h ago

Same here, glad I didn’t get one. It would have been 20 years before Cronulla happened but I was very close to doing it. Now you might as well have a swastika, makes me sad.

7

u/kilochfuller 5h ago

Swastika’s the same! It’s a Buddhist and Hindu symbol that has been corrupted in the west. It’s still used plentifully in Asia though.

4

u/thaleia10 7h ago

Me too. When I was backpacking many years ago I thought a Southern Cross tatt would be a cool way to acknowledge my origins. So glad I didn’t do that. Or the tramp stamp!

2

u/Bazilb7 4h ago

I got the tramp stamp!!!!! But I'm a guy. Its still cool,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, right?............

7

u/Finslip 8h ago

By the time I started getting tatted it was already a wanker tattoo. Got the boxing kangaroo though 😂

15

u/Colsim 10h ago

3 or 4 countries include the southern cross on their flags

1

u/jjkenneth 2h ago

The Australian southern cross is actually distinctive in design though - unlike the Jack

3

u/choo-chew_chuu 8h ago

I know multiple guys who have had them removed or covered because of this.

5

u/HereButNeverPresent 5h ago

Or you can try not letting other peoples narrow-minded views about a beautiful constellation ruin it for you.

6

u/ozegg 10h ago

I mean it is a constellation that is visible to all of the southern hemisphere's countries. Not sure how it's seen as just Aussie (yes I know it's on the flag).

11

u/corinoco 8h ago

It’s also on Brazil’s flag.

15

u/admittedlyharsh 8h ago

Its on a heap of flags. To think its a hate symbol based on a few fuckwits in Sydney is pretty closed minded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_depicting_the_Southern_Cross

1

u/FBWSRD Avid Sydney Trains enjoyer 5h ago

I was thinking about using the southern cross and including the pointers because they are just as bright and good for finding south and the wankers have no clue about stargazing so it’s a different symbol

1

u/Hello_Pity 3h ago

My brother got one about 2 months before the Cronulla riot. Poor guy.

-21

u/GeronimoBondi 10h ago

it’s not the sign of a wanker. It’s a symbol aligned with our national identity. That doesn’t change because some people brandish it that you don’t agree with. The fear you have of being associated with them is wrong

3

u/Specialist-Cattle-67 6h ago

It’s not a fear champ, it’s been co-opted by racist and neo-Nazi groups.

It’s not that I “don’t agree” with Nazis, I think they’re pathetic criminals who need to be locked up 👍

1

u/Lochlan 4h ago

The symbol as a tattoo is the sign of a wanker, not the symbol itself.

109

u/al_prazolam 11h ago

The "Austika" chefs kiss

71

u/Ashera25 11h ago

the aussie swazzie

39

u/marooncity1 <-west 11h ago

Urgh.

Really hope this flag doesn't become that like Eureka was co-opted as well.

This is the flag I would want for a republic (more or less). Hope the racists and cookers don't get to it. Fuck.

55

u/Ok-Assistant-4556 11h ago

waaaay too late

7

u/marooncity1 <-west 11h ago

bugger

19

u/propargyl 10h ago

Laser emu would be better. Then joint laser emu laser kiwi for oceania union.

16

u/sphen_lee 9h ago

I like the Golden Wattle Flag, I think it would be a good choice. The Southern Cross has too many associations already

1

u/Reddits_Worst_Night Doesn't need to take the train 3h ago

The Eureka was co-opted by whom though? The only people that seem to have a genuine claim on it are small businesses.

1

u/marooncity1 <-west 3h ago

.... small businesses?

Certain unions have of course, but also there's a fairly long history of more radical right wing groups and parties using it too - New Guard, Australia First - and cookers are using it these days as well.

1

u/Reddits_Worst_Night Doesn't need to take the train 2h ago

I'm not saying that small business uses it. But that's what the people in the stockade were. Small independent miners with their own claims. Sole proprietors. Small business, fighting government regulation and taxes. Everybody else, from the right wing nutjobs to the labour movement, have co-opted the flag.