Before 1901, Australia was a collection of six British colonies. The Union Flag, as the flag of the British Empire, was often used to represent them collectively, and each colony also had its own flag based on the Union Flag. Two attempts were made throughout the nineteenth century to design a national flag. The first such attempt was the National Colonial Flag created in 1823–1824 by Captain John Nicholson and Captain John Bingle. The most popular "national" flag of the period was the 1831 Federation Flag, also designed by Nicholson These flags, and many others such as the Eureka Flag (which came into use at the Eureka Stockade in 1854), featured stars representing the Southern Cross.
