Copyright of Aboriginal Flag transferred to Commonwealth

Emotions ran high as news broke the Aboriginal flag would be made available to all, following the commonwealth’s announcement an agreement worth $20m had been reached.

UPDATE: EMOTIONS ran high as news broke the Aboriginal flag would be made available to all.

For some, the news recalled memories of the 1988 Australia Day Protests when countrymen and women from all over the Territory went in convoy to Sydney.

“We loaded up more than eight bus loads, a bunch of troopies and we all headed down south,” said long-time activist and AMSANT chief executive John Paterson.

“It’s a day I’ll never forget. That feeling with my brothers, Iconic.” he said.

In 1988 many celebrated the bicentenary of the First Fleet entering Botany Bay, but for First Nations people the day was one of “reflection, remembrance and action”.

While people were celebrating the colonisation of Australia, protesters, 34 years ago, drew both national and international attention to Australia’s ongoing inequities.

Today, many of those same protesters will march for the same reasons in Darwin and other cities.

Australia Day Council NT chair Nigel Browne, said Australia Day 2022 is about encouraging all communities across the Northern Territory to embrace a national narrative.

“Reflect, Respect, Celebrate – we are all part of the story,” he said.

EARLIER: FIFTY-ONE years after its creation, the artist of the Aboriginal flag has signed over copyright to the Federal Government.

Designed by Territorian Luritji and Wombi artist Harold Thomas, the iconic work will now be freely available to all Australians to use in a “respectful and dignified way”.

Mr Thomas said he hoped releasing the copyright provided comfort to all Aboriginal people.

“I am grateful that my art is appreciated by so many, and that it has come to represent something so powerful to so many,” he said

“The Aboriginal flag design is my dreaming, intertwined with my wife’s family and mine, our ancestral belonging. The land, and the landscape, is indelible in my make-up; it courses through my consciousness and subconsciousness”Mr Thomas said the flag represents the timeless history of our land and our people’s time on it.

“It is an introspection and appreciation of who we are. It draws from the history of our ancestors, our land, and our identity and will honour these well into the future.”

Minister Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said securing the free use of the Aboriginal flag was profoundly important for all Australians. “The Aboriginal flag is an enduring symbol close to the heart of Aboriginal people,” Minister Wyatt said.

“Over the last 50 years we made Harold Thomas’ artwork our own - we marched under the Aboriginal flag, stood behind it, and flew it high as a point of pride.

“In reaching this agreement to resolve the copyright issues, all Australians can freely display and use the flag to celebrate Indigenous culture. Now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no one can take it away.”

As part of the negotiations all royalties the Commonwealth receives from existing commercial contracts, including Flagworld who produce apparel with the flag, will go towards NAIDOC.

The government has also agreed to provide an annual scholarship in Mr Thomas’ honour worth $100,000 for Indigenous students to further the development of First Nations’ governance and leadership.

An original painting by Harold Thomas recognising the flag’s 50th anniversary and the historic transfer of copyright will be gratefully accepted and displayed in a prominent location by the Australian Government.