Followers

Saturday 14 September 2013

Sepia Saturday 194, flags;



The Australian Aboriginal Flag is a flag that represents Indigenous Australians. 
It is one of the official "Flags of Australia", and holds special legal and political status, but it is not the "Australian National Flag". It was designed in 1971 by Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas, who is descended from the Luritja people of Central Australia and holds intellectual property rights in the flag's design. The flag was originally designed for the land rights movement, and it became a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia.

The symbolic meaning of the flag colours
Black: Represents the Aboriginal people of Australia
Red: Represents the red earth, the red ochre and a spiritual relation to the land
Yellow: Represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector


The flag was first flown on National Aborigines' Day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 12 July .


The decision in 1995 by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags should be given the status of national flags was opposed by the Liberal Opposition at the time, Opposition Leader John Howard stating that "any attempt to give the flags official status under the Flags Act would rightly be seen by many in the community not as an act of reconciliation but as a divisive gesture".

Nonetheless, since Howard became Prime Minister in 1996 and under subsequent Labor governments, these flags have remained national flags.
The National Indigenous Advisory Committee campaigned for the Aboriginal flag to be flown at Stadium Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics.
 SOCOG announced that the Aboriginal flag would be flown at Olympic venues. The flag was flown over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the march for reconciliation of 2000, and many other events.
On the 30th anniversary of the flag in 2001, thousands of people were involved in a ceremony where the flag was carried from the Parliament of South Australia to Victoria Square. 
Since 8 July 2002, after recommendations of the Council's Reconciliation Committee, the Aboriginal Flag has been permanently flown in Victoria Square and the front of the Town Hall.

 I would like to see this flag flying for all Australians.


www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com





Courtesy wikipedia