Talk:Australian passport

An entry from Australian passport appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 8 March, 2006.

Wikipedia

Visa free access

Need to put up a visa free access list of countries, similar to "Malaysian passport" " British passport" etc.. From what i know, australian passports have same number of visa free access countries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.228.82 (talk) 14:51, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Good job. Well done to whoever put up the new list of visa free access for Oz passports. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.45.165.192 (talk) 10:32, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

language

why is french used in the australian passport? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.203.222.244 (talk) 04:46, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

I guess because French is the 2nd most understood language besides english? I think. And taking into account that the passport is give visa-free access for many countries in Europe, Canada and Africa and that French is a 2nd language in these places, it seems kinda appropriate for it to be used in australian passports...

Because French is/was the language of international diplomacy. However, I notice that the French text as it currently appears in the article is almost incoherent. Can anyone confirm that this is the actual verbatim text as appears in an actual Australian passport? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.68.58.23 (talk) 01:47, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

The French text in the article was a direct copy and paste of the Google translation of the actual English text. The text only appears in English in the passport, and thus I have removed the faulty French text from the article. 80.141.198.76 (talk) 13:17, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Trivia

Just was looking at my Aussie Passport (latest) and realised on the last pages there are lines that are made up of the words of Waltzing Matilda. Is this a wikipedia worthy fact? Also because of the electronic chip a logo resembling the Australian Aboriginal Flag has been placed on the cover of the Passport. I have no idea if this is intentional, but it is kind of ironic that an Australian document that does not contain the Australian flag seems to contain that of the Indigenous Australians (good on whoever did this if it was intentional!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.220.153.212 (talk) 07:53, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Isn't the logo on the front of the Australian passport the Australian coat of arms? JAJ (talk) 04:31, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

BOB! == Headline text ==BOB--203.129.37.25 (talk) 00:56, 20 July 2008 (UTC)By me

No, it's not intentional, that is the symbol designating a biometric passport - it appears on the biometric passports of all other countries as well. It's just a coincidence that it happens to look like the Aboriginal flag. 80.141.198.76 (talk) 13:20, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

The words 'British Passport' on the Australian passport

The main article says that the words 'British Passport' were replaced by the words 'Australian Passport' on the front cover of Australian passports in 1949. It is not as simple as that. 1949 is indeed a significant year in Australian passport history, but it is not the date in question for this issue. I have read conflicting sources on this issue. One source said that Australian and New Zealand passports continued to say 'British Passport' on the front cover up until 1964. Another source was more detailed. It mentioned the reasons for the change and referred to official letters written on the issue in 1967. The point is, that up until 1962, Australians had automatic right of entry into the UK. This automatic right of entry was terminated by the 1962 Commonwealth immigrants act. Although this didn't have very much practical significance for Australians, it was nevertheless a bone of contention with some Australians. The letter in question referred to the irony of Australians carrying passports which said 'British Passport' on the cover, and yet these passports didn't give automatic right of entry to the UK. The source in question said that as from 1969, the words 'British passport' on the cover of Australian passports were replaced by the words 'Australian Passport' in order to reflect the new state of reality. I doubt if I could ever trace that source again. It was in a large book about the British Empire in a library in Suva, Fiji. The matter is further complicated by the fact that I have photocopies of Australian passports from the public records office at Kew in London. Only the later one of the two has the words 'British passport' on the front cover. The earlier one simply says 'Passport'. The two are identical in every other important respect. They are both black passports with the Australian coat of arms. the national status of the bearer in both cases is 'British Subject'. This date needs to be changed on the main article. David Tombe (talk) 16:04, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

I'll change the date to 1969. If anybody can produce evidence to the contrary, they can change it back again. David Tombe (talk) 20:31, 17 November 2008 (UTC)