“Connection is the Main Theme for my logo for VN-Australia’s 50 years of Relations”

In 2023, Vietnam and Australia celebrate 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations. In celebration of this milestone, the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam jointly organized a logo contest. The winning logo will be used for official events in commemorative activities of the two countries.

According to the Organizing Committee, the purpose of the contest is to find a logo that embodies the message of the partnership between Vietnam and Australia over the past 50 years. The logo also needs to show the shared achievements of the two countries, the hope for the future, and the message of “People – Partner – Prosperous”.

After three months of launching, from 70 entries, on December 21, 2022, the contest announced the winning logo. The logo features the image of the boomerang – an internationally recognized symbol of Australia. With cleverness and sophistication, designer Tran Van Trung (Vietnam) created a logo featuring a five-pointed Vietnamese star from the boomerangs. Besides the five-color version, there is a gold version that aligns with the celebratory national colors of green and gold of Australia.

Sarah Hooper, Australian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City is happy to celebrate a half-century of cooperation between the Viets and Aussies.

“We are pleased to see an entry that successfully combines famous Australian and Vietnamese symbols into a simple and eye-catching logo that will be easily recognizable as representing the 50th anniversary.”

“Most people associate Australia’s emblem with the Sydney Opera House. However, based on the message of the anniversary, I want to embrace the idea of connection into the logo,” claimed Trung.

Australian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Sarah Hooper (right) congratulated Tran Van Trung on winning the award (Photo courtesy by Tran Van Trung).

He chose boomerang because it represents the indigenous people of Australia and it is also a cultural icon of the country. The boomerangs can be shaped together to create an image of a star, which is also the symbol of Vietnam.

“Regarding the color combination, I used red to represent Vietnam and dark blue to represent Australia. Blue represents the ocean and navigation, and the green represents agriculture. Yellow appears in both countries’ flags and it represents the idea of prosperity. I designed the logo within two months,” said Trung.

“When I heard that my design had been chosen, I felt honored to be contributing to the celebration of 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. In the future, I hope that Vietnam and Australia will boost agricultural and green economic cooperation to create sustainable development. While both countries have agricultural strengths, Australia is ahead of Vietnam in terms of developing environmentally friendly technologies.”

Tran Van Trung graduated in industrial arts and currently works for an educational organization. He has many good memories of Sydney when attending a summer course at Macquarie University in 2019.

“Australia is an ethnically diverse country and Australians are really friendly to foreigners,” said Trung.

Trung came to Australia in 2019 (Photo courtesty by Tran Van Trung).

The young creative plans to return to Australia and explore the South, which is famous for its landscape and local culture.