The Australian Aboriginal flag is an official flag of Australia that represents Aboriginal Australians. It was granted official status in 1995 under the Flags Act 1953, together with the Torres Strait Islander flag, in order to advance reconciliation and in recognition of the importance and acceptance of the flag by the Australian community. The two flags are often flown together with the Australian national flag.
The Australian Aboriginal flag was designed by Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas in 1971, and it was first flown in Adelaide in July of that year. Thomas held the intellectual property rights to the flag's design until January 2022, when he transferred the copyright to the Commonwealth government. The flag was designed for the land rights movement and became a symbol of Aboriginal people of Australia.
The flag is horizontally and equally divided into a black region (above) and a red region (below); a yellow disc is superimposed over the centre of the flag. The overall proportions of the flag, as proclaimed and in its original design, are 2:3; however, the flag is often reproduced in the proportions 1:2 as with the Australian national flag.
On 14 July 1995, the Keating government advised the proclamation of the Aboriginal flag as "the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and to be known as the Australian Aboriginal flag", under section five of the Flags Act 1953. The proclamation noted that the flag was "recognised as the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and a flag of significance to the Australian nation generally". Due to an administrative oversight, the 1995 proclamation was not lodged so that it would continue in force indefinitely; hence it automatically expired on 1 January 2008. It was therefore almost identically replaced, on 25 January 2008, with effect as from 1 January.
The symbolic meaning of the flag colours (as stated by Harold Thomas) are:
Black – "represents the Aboriginal people of Australia"
Yellow circle – "represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector"
Red – "represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples' spiritual relation to the land"
Discussing the process of designing the flag in a copyright trial, Thomas also elaborated that the black represented "black consciousness, black awareness, black power [and] be[ing] proud of your blackness". The other colours of yellow and red were sourced from the predominant colours used to decorate pukamani poles. Thomas also explained why the black was placed above the red stripe:
I wanted to make it unsettling. In normal circumstances you'd have the darker colour at the bottom and the lighter colour 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.
Others, including Nova Perris and social worker Tileah Drahm-Butler, have also interpreted the red as representing the blood shed by Aboriginal people.
The official colour specifications of the Australian Aboriginal flag are:
In most cases, on-screen or digital reproductions of the flag should use the RGB colours as in the table above. When displaying in physical fabric formats, it is much preferred to use the Pantone specifications. When printing on paper, the CMYK colours are superior.
The original design was in the proportion 2:3, rather than 1:2, to make the flag more "squared up", as Thomas felt that the Australian Flag, at 1:2, was too long.
Harold Thomas first discussed the need to create an Aboriginal flag with Gary Foley, several days or months before National Aborigines Day Observance Committee (NADOC) day in 1971. He first thought about the need for an Aboriginal symbol after attending a protest in 1970 when Aboriginal people were unrecognisable in a crowd of mostly white supporters. Thomas recalls that the Aboriginal flag came to him fully formed in a moment of inspiration, independently or in conversation with Foley.
Once he had come up with the design, Thomas selected cloth at the Harris Scarfe store in Rundle Mall, Adelaide. The first flag was sewn together by Sandra Lee Hanson, a colleague of Thomas working at the South Australian Museum. While the original flag is lost, offcuts from the flag were found in the museum in 2014.
The flag was first flown on NADOC day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 9 July 1971 during a land rights rally. The flag was later adopted by the Redfern Black Caucus, with members of the group going on to found the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, where the flag was used from late 1972. The original flag possibly flew here or remained in South Australia. In the early months of the embassy—which was established in February that year—other designs were used, including flags with the black, red and green colours of the Pan-African flag as a symbol of black consciousness, and a flag with a red-black field containing a spear and four crescents in yellow.
Cathy Freeman caused controversy at the 1994 Commonwealth Games by carrying the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian national flag during her victory lap of the arena, after winning the 200 metres sprint; only the national flag is meant to be displayed. Despite strong criticism from both Games officials and Australian team president Arthur Tunstall, Freeman carried both flags again after winning the 400 metres.