CANBERRA (CU)_The black and red flag with a yellow disc on the centre was first designed by indigenous artist Harold Thomas in 1971 as a protest image. Over the years it became the dominant emblem of Indigenous Australians, and is regularly flown alongside Australia’s national flag in official capacities. However, the flag was “held hostage” by Thomas himself through copyright deals which limited its display. Following years of bitter fights over who can use it, the flag has now been freed as a symbol of identity of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific nation.
The government of Australia paid more than AU$20 million (US$14 million) in total to Luritja artist Thomas to secure the copyright and terminate lease agreements, media reports said on Tuesday (25 Jan). Accordingly, the flag can now be reproduced by anyone without fear of legal threats.
“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,” Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, said. “Now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no-one can take it away.”
Thomas previously claimed that he had leased the rights to the flag with the aim of receiving royalties for his artwork, and preventing knock-offs made overseas. However, over the recent years there has been increased pressure from Aboriginal groups and controversies in sports, including the Australian Football League (AFL), which have refused to pay leaseholders to display the flag.
One petition organiser, Laura Thompson, asked why Aboriginal people have to pay for the flag, since it belongs to all Indigenous peoples of Australia. “It’s a symbol of our people’s survival. Many of us don’t identify with the Australian flag because for us it represents colonisation and invasion,” she told the BBC in 2020.
Commenting on the Australian government’s purchase of the flag’s copyright, Thomas wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday: “In the future, the flag will remain, not as a symbol of struggle, but as a symbol of pride and unity.”
