Jess Leo: Campbelltown Council makes mind-boggling, divisive decision to not fly Aboriginal flag
A SUBURBAN Adelaide council has just made the mind-boggling decision to not permanently fly the Aboriginal flag outside its chambers. Because, it says, it would create disunity.
Opinion
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THE Aboriginal flag was first flown in 1971 in the heart of our city, Victoria Square.
Fast forward 45 years and a suburban Adelaide council has rejected a push to permanently fly the distinctive red, black and yellow flag outside its chambers.
It’s not the $2000 cost of a new flagpole which Campbelltown Council is highlighting as an impediment, it’s fear of creating disunity.
Councillors Max Amber and Neville Grigg this month led the charge (which resulted in a 5-4 vote) against the flag being permanently flown, a recommendation that had been brought to the council by its very own Reconciliation Advisory Committee.
Cr Grigg declared the suggestion a “divisive motion” while Cr Amber stated the flag under which two world wars were fought would suffice.
Aboriginal elder Lowitja O’Donoghue rightly told the East Torrens Messenger she was “gobsmacked” by the decision and didn’t think it was in question — most of our council areas fly the Aboriginal flag in some capacity or are at least actively exploring doing so.
To have a council shoot down the suggestion wholesale is mind-boggling, especially when one considers that nowadays the bigger issue is the appropriateness of Australia Day falling on January 26.
To his credit, Campbelltown Mayor Simon Brewer — who along with two other councillors is on the Reconciliation Advisory Committee — has come out swinging against the decision and urged his council to “move into the 21st century”.
Campbelltown Council’s extraordinarily divisive decision NOT to fly the Aboriginal flag comes just as New Zealand wraps up its second referendum regarding altering its flag.
Over in the Land of the Long White Cloud they’re in the process of choosing between two options — keeping the existing flag or adopting a new flag which in essence introduces a silver fern but drops the Union Jack.
The latter was selected from votes cast in a first referendum, held late last year, which canvassed four options which had been selected from a “shortlist” of 40 designs.
Voting in the current referendum closes on Thursday and while the process has been met with some apathy and criticism labelling it an expensive vanity project, it is an example of democracy at work.
Despite the proposed removal of the Union Jack, the exercise isn’t a republic push and, should the new design be voted in, New Zealand will remain part of the Commonwealth.
Back home, we might just be ready to have this conversation again — without politicising the issue.
Western Sydney University’s Alternative Australian flag Survey collected the opinions of 8000 people who were first asked if they wanted a change, and if so, which of six designs on offer they’d prefer.
Sixty-four per cent of respondents were in favour of a new flag and the Reconciliation Flag — which incorporated the colours of the Aboriginal flag with the existing Southern Cross and Commonwealth star — was the second-most preferred option. The top selection, christened “Southern Horizon”, also eschewed the Union Jack and instead introduced a green and gold wave at the base of the flag.
Yes, the survey may have attracted self-serving respondents and the findings were opportunistically released this year on Australia Day, but the sentiment is out there.
And as long as we have people in our community who think the duality of having an Australian national flag and an Aboriginal flag creates a divide, we need to be having this conversation.
There are plenty of issues clamouring for government intervention and dollars, but what’s the point of advancing any of those causes if we don’t have unity? If we don’t feel like we are all one?
Those with British ancestry may baulk at the removal of the Union Jack. On the other side of the divide, the Aboriginal flag’s creator, Harold Thomas, has suggested simply replacing that top left patch with his design, which isn’t entirely appropriate. But symbolism, when it comes to cultural identity, is hugely important for a nation still as young as ours.
For many, it’s a vexatious issue best dealt with — at least in the first instance — by those who professionally pursue the study of flags, aptly named vexillologists.
JESSICA LEO IS MESSENGER COMMUNITY NEWS’ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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