Flag - Aboriginal Flag
The Australian Aboriginal flag represents the indigenous people
of Australia. It was designed in 1971 by the Aboriginal artist
Harold Thomas. Australian government officially recognized
it as a flag of Australia on the 14th of July, 1995.
It consists of three colors (red, yellow, and black).
The black is said to represent the Aboriginal people of Australia,
the red is said to represent the red ochre of the outback,
and the yellow of the sun. Other interpretations of the colors
used in the flag say that the red symbolizes the blood spilled
when Europeans first came to Australia.
The designer of the flag Harold Thomas was quoted as saying
"I wanted to make it unsettling. In normal circumstances
you'd have the darker color at the bottom and the lighter
color on top and that would be visibly appropriate for anybody
looking at it. It wouldn't unsettle you. To give a shock to
the viewer to have it on top had a dual purpose, was to unsettle..
The other factor why I had it on top was the Aboriginal people
walk on top of the land. It's an obvious fact as well. So
it had.. that was the reason why the black was on top was
visibly unsettling and because of how I was trained at art
school, not to make things too obvious but to have a bit of
a shock but also to say that the people walk on the land."
Official Australian buildings often display the Australian
Flag and the Aboriginal Flag side by side. The colors
of the Aboriginal flag have also become powerful symbols of
pride and strength for the indigenous people of Australia.