The Australian flag with union jack ensign

Australia

The 2009 Australian entry of the CIA World Factbook states the population of Australian being around 20 million, the ethnic group is recorded as 92% white whilst 7% are Asian and a mere 1% is other or aboriginal.

By looking at the range of languages and religions that make up Australia you can gather that Australia is a very diverse nation – made up of many different cultures and countries that have merged together to form Australia as we know it today. Whilst mainly British influences other countries include Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Croatia, Vietnam. In contrast France a country with 3 times the population of Australia speak 100% French as there language.

The country of Australia however was founded by aboriginal settlers who arrived from the continent from southeast Asia. According to sources these settlers arrived some “40,000” years before any European explorations which began in the 17th century. Then in 1770 James Cook took possession of the territory and claimed it in the name of Great Britain.
Six colonies where created and these federated in 1st January 1901 to become the Commonwealth of Australia.

At first the British sent there first migrants over to resolve prison spacing, as it was an island it was considered ideal as it gave little chance of escape. However soon many migrated to Australia as a new land it gave idea for a new life. To escape the hard times and religious persecution in Germany or communist governments in Vietnam, some early migrants came over as part of the gold rush too.

The aboriginal flag

The aboriginal flag

The new settlers however seemed to neglect the very people who founded the country in the beginning the indigenes people of Australia the Aboriginals.
On the 26th May marks Australia’s national sorry day. A day of forgiveness from the Aboriginals. Why? During 1869 and 1969 the Australian government and church missions under the act of their parliaments removed children of Aboriginal descent from their families in attempt to “attain white racial purity“, avoid Miscegenation and to protect the children. This is known as the stolen generation.

During 1992 and 1995 an inquiry into this act was reviewed marking the national sorry day. In the same month the Aboriginal flag along with the Islander strait flag where recognized as official flags of Australia under the flag act of 1953.

The flag was designed in 1971 by an Aborginal artist called Harold Thomas, it was oringnally used as a protest flag but has since been used to represent the Indegious people of Australia.
Harold Thomas has witnessed the stolen generation for himself at age 7 he was separated from his family, he explains that he only spent 7 years of his life living in his birth town before being separated and being forced to live in a, “segregated area called the Cottages where part-Aboriginals were to live in specially built houses.” He explains his disappointment of being 1 of 13 children but not being housed “under the same roof.”

He became an Aboringinal activities and artist. His flag represents strength and passion.
Harold had a job in the South Austrailian Museum there he saw the biggest collection of Aborginal art and artifacts in the world, he explains that he “gleaned over every artifact, every design” and felt “there was something powerful and strong here that should be expressed.”
From there he created the flag, he explains that it came from simplicity and power of Aboringnal art itself. He choice simple designs, simple colours that have a powerful meaning. The red ochre represents the “red soil – the country of Austrailia is red” The sun is commonoly used in Aboringanal art and is a “great symbol” the ocre yellow is often used too. He goes on to explain that the “black represents the pride of being black in Australia. Because, at the time, black pride came into Australian culture -- during the ‘60s and ‘70s -- influenced by Black American pride of their culture. If this is going to be an Aboriginal flag, it has to have black, because it represents the black people of the continent.”
He believes the flag helped give the Aboriginal people an identity, because of the suppression many Aboringnals where ashamed of who they where. Before the flag was given offical status, Cathy Freeman waved the flag alongside the Australian flag after winning the 1994 commonwealth games 400m. Flags have power. This is demonstrated with the Nazi flag.

The union black – proposed design in 2003

The Australian flag and other flags

In 1901 the commonwealth of Australian flag was flown, the flag was was designed to commemorate a new nation as the six colonies merged into one to form the 6th largest country in the world. A competition was administered to deiced the design for the flag. The finalized design included the ensign of Great Britain in the upper left corner. The large 7 pointed star known as the commonwealth star represented the federation of the colonies of Australia. The points of the star represent each colony the 7th representing all of Australia’s colonies. The remaining stars represent the Southern Cross Constellation.

Proposed design for Australian flag with

Aboriginal flag ensign (Fig 2.)Figure 2 shows a flag proposal to incorporate the aboriginal flag into the Australian flag replacing the union jack ensign. What is interesting is that the Union flag is included into the design of the existing Australian flag to represent Australia’s history with Great Britain and her ties to the queen. Yet facts state that the original ties to the country where the Aboriginals. In contrast the union jack was given a proposed makeover in 2003 to include black stripes to represent the black people of the nation. The flag was considered racist and has since been scrapped. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2981038.stm). Many flags used black to represent hardships and the people of the nation. Examples include the south African flag with the black triangle as well as the Jamaican flag.