Aboriginal flag

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Aboriginal flag
Flag of the Australian Aborigines.svg
Vexillological symbol :
Aspect ratio: 1: 2, also 2: 3
Officially accepted: 1995

The Aboriginal flag is the symbol of the native people of Australia .

Description and meaning

The flag is split horizontally, black above and red below. There is a yellow disk in the middle. The Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas , who designed the flag, gave no indication of the meaning of its elements. Therefore, different interpretations are in circulation:

  • The yellow disc symbolizes the sun as the giver of life.
  • Black stands for the dark-skinned natives, or - in another interpretation - for the night sky.
  • Red stands for the proverbial red country of Central Australia, or - interpreted differently - for the blood of the Aborigines that has exuded over the past two hundred years.
  • Mother Earth and the ocher used for ceremonies are red. Yellow is the sun, the constant giver and renewer of life. Black is the dream time in which everything was created.

Together the colors symbolize the basis of Aboriginal life.

history

Aboriginal flag in Adelaide

Harold Thomas designed the flag in 1971. It waved in the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of the Australian Parliament in Canberra from 1972 until the embassy was closed in 1977. In 1995 the flag was officially adopted by the Australian Government as a "Flag of Australia".

The Aboriginal flag attracted worldwide attention when Cathy Freeman displayed not only the Australian flag but also the Aboriginal flag in the stadium after winning a gold medal in the women's 400m run at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, though only the showing of official national flags is allowed in Olympic stadiums.

copyright

According to Australian law, the copyright of the design of the flag is owned by Harold Thomas. This was decided by the Federal Court of Australia in April 1997. Only Carroll and Richardson Flags has had a license from Thomas since 1998 to produce this flag.

Others

Flag was proposed but never officially adopted? Combination with the flag of Australia

As part of the flag dispute over the Union Jack in the national flag of Australia , a variant is proposed, in which the flag of the Aborigines is in the jack of the national flag instead of the Union Jack . This flag is used again and again at political demonstrations or as a bumper sticker.

See also

Web links