The Aboriginal flag

“eye-catching in land rights protests”

The indigenous Elder Harold Thomas designed the Aboriginal flag in 1971 as a symbol of unity and identity for the land rights movement of the early 1970s. He was born in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, in 1948 and is a member of the Luritja tribe.

The red lower part in the flag red symbolizes the red earth, the ochre and a spiritual relation to the land. The yellow circle in the middle represents the sun and the renewal of life. The black upper part symbolizes the Aboriginal people of Australia.

The flag was first flown on National Aborigines Day at the Victoria Square in Adelaide on 12 July 1971. Nowadays you will see the flag in many places all over Australia beside the Australian Flag.

In 1997 the Federal Court recognized Harold Thomas as the designer of the Flag under the Copyright Act 1968 and backdated the copyrights to him.

The flag is flown on the National Aboriginal Day of Commemoration (NADOC) which promotes and celebrates the Aboriginal culture heritage. The celebration takes places in the first week of July where the Aboriginal communities held festivities all over Australia.