ABSTRACT
The period from 1880 saw the most concerted efforts to effect a federation, and the popular songs that accompany the push reflect a variety of moods and perspectives. While the musical idiom of nationalistic songs is not differentiated, their sentiment is, and it is the aspect that will be examined, taking the representation of flags as an obvious and frequently employed connecting theme. One feature of the poems that were set is their authors’ oft-repeated invocation of the flag as a powerful symbol of identity, unity and independence, and it is the vexillological preoccupation that is elaborated in the following excursion through several of the published songs. The capitalisation in the poems as printed in the songs is perhaps significant. Henry Rix federation song had been written for the Australian Natives’ Association, a friendly society established in Melbourne in 1871 for nativeborn, white Australian males of good character.
