Born and raised in the US, he has spent the past 15 years promoting his Southern Cross and Boomerang design, handing out more than 80,000 stickers. Yes please, we're Scottish: Independence supporters hold up the Scottish flag, the St Andrew's Cross. Credit:AP What the West Australian window washer lacks in a design background he more than makes up for in self-belief. "Aesthetically, there's nothing in cooee of this design," Mr Rieben said. "I'm beating my own drum, but this design has flair, it has aesthetic qualities, and politically it's spot on."

A poll by the UK's Flag Institute found 64 per cent of Britons supported a change of flag if Scotland were to secede. Union Jack jitters: A poll has shown 64 per cent of Britons support a change of flag if Scotland secedes. Credit:Bloomberg Legally, an independent Scotland would require no change to the UK flag, let alone that of an independent nation such as Australia. The Union Jack can remain just as it is: an intersection of England's red cross of St George, Ireland's red, X-shaped cross of St Patrick and Scotland's white, X-shaped cross of St Andrew. 'This design has flair': Fred Rieben has distributed 80,000 stickers depicting his alternative flag. Credit:Robert Peet

But Harold Scruby, chief executive of the change group AusFlag, said the confusion around the future of the Union Jack was reason itself to abandon it. "The notion that if Scotland leaves the union that we should possibly have to change our flag, it shows the absurdity of our flag," Mr Scruby said. Outdated? The Australian flag. Credit:Jeffrey Chan "We are not a colony, homeland protectorate or dominion of Great Britain." Mr Scruby said he had been debating flag change with Prime Minister Tony Abbott for the past 15 years.

While he sensed no shift in the prime minister's position, he did believe "the new flag may come from a conservative government". "It's a bit like only Nixon could go to China," he said, referring to the Republican president's 1972 visit to communist China. AusFlag claims to have received more than 50,000 alternative designs since its founding in 1981. Flag scholar Ralph Kelly said designers often tried to please too many people at once. "They have a Southern Cross, a kangaroo, the green and gold, a Commonwealth star, a little bit of red, white and blue and something for the Aborigines," Mr Kelly said.

"If the politics become possible for us to change the flag, it will be extremely difficult to find something everyone can agree with." Tony Burton, the editor of flag journal Crux Australis, did not hold too much hope that a Scottish referendum would kickstart a flag change movement in Australia. "The real country to watch is not Scotland and the rest of the Misty Isles, but a land of a long white cloud of another kind," Mr Burton said. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key promised in March that a vote on flag change would be held in the next parliamentary term. For Mr Rieben, any opportunity to promote his design is a good opportunity.

"I've been on this for a long time to make sure that when the historical moment happens, I'm there." Want to design your own flag? Here are some pointers from AusFlag's guide. The design should be kept simple

Animals or birds should preferably face the flagpole.

Light colours should not be placed next to or upon other light colours, and so too for dark colours

Colours which stand out from a distance and are readily recognisable against the sky and sea are preferable.

No national flag currently uses purple