(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Australia will soon be one of only three countries, apart from Britain, that still sports the Union Jack on its national flag.
Fiji has announced it will erase the historical link to mark the 45th anniversary of its independence this year.
Stefan Armbruster reports.
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A last flutter of the British Empire in Fiji.
The Union Jack in the top left corner of the national flag, the mark of its coloniser, will soon to be consigned to history.
Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says the 45th anniversary of independence, when the flag was introduced, is the right time to change it.
"The union flag belongs to the British not us. The shield on our flag has the British lion and the Cross of St George - a British patron saint. What does this have to do with us?"
Elections in Fiji last year and the return to democracy saw the Fijian flag was raised once again in London.
Marking its return to the Commonwealth by removing the Union Jack, Fiji is doing what almost all other members have done already.
Mr Bainimarama says it should not be seen as a slight on Britain.
"A country with whom we are friends and will continue to do so. But they are not symbols that are relevant to any Fijian in the 21st century. And they should go."
The current flag - introduced in 1970 - is Fiji's fourth since colonisation.
Fijis Prime Minister says he wants a new design to unite a nation - where racial tensions between the traditional owners and Indo-Fijians have sparked a series of coups.
The announcement has received a mix reception.
On social media a petition calling for a referendum and discussion in parliament before any flag change is made.
Tony Burton from research and preservation organisation, Flags Australia, says Australia's flag is now becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage.
"If Australia was the only union jack left standing, this side of the world anyway, supporters of the current flag could say, our flag's unique - let's keep it. No other flag on this side of the world has got the Union Jack."
The small Polynesian nation of Tuvalu is hanging onto the Union Jack for now.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key last year announced in October the flag the issue would be put to a referendum as soon as this year.
"I am proposing that we take one more step in the evolution of modern New Zealand by acknowledging our independence through a new flag."
Fiji 's government-owned national airline was rebranded two years ago with traditional designs.
How the new Fijian flag will look, will be decided by a national competition and then unfurled in October.
