Oceania’s flags carry two competing influences. Several nations, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji among them, still fly a version of the British Blue Ensign, Union Jack included, alongside a Southern Cross constellation that marks their place in the southern sky. Elsewhere across the Pacific, newer and more independent designs have taken over, drawing on local color, symbols, and identity rather than colonial templates, some of them among the youngest national flags anywhere in the world.
Below, every country’s flag in the region, linked through to the full story behind each one.
Australia · Fiji · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Micronesia · Nauru · New Zealand · Palau · Papua New Guinea · Samoa · Solomon Islands · Tonga · Tuvalu · Vanuatu