An Aboriginal flag is held aloft during a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protesters and demand an end to Aboriginal deaths in custody, in Perth on June 13, 2020. (TREVOR COLLENS / AFP)
SYDNEY – The Australian government said on Tuesday it had
acquired copyright to the Aboriginal flag so it can be freely used,
resolving a commercial dispute that had restricted sporting teams and
Aboriginal communities from reproducing the image.
The
Aboriginal flag has been recognized as an official flag of Australia
since 1995, flown from government buildings and embraced by sporting
clubs.
After
a deal negotiated with its creator, indigenous artist Harold Thomas,
the flag can be used on sports shirts, sporting grounds, websites and in
artworks without permission or payment of a fee, the government said on
the eve of the Australia Day national holiday.
Writing
in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, Thomas said he first made the
black, yellow and red flag to lead a demonstration in 1971, and it had
become a symbol of indigenous unity and pride.
After
a deal negotiated with the Aboriginal flag's creator, indigenous artist Harold Thomas,
the flag can be used on sports shirts, sporting grounds, websites and in
artworks without permission or payment of a fee, the government said on
the eve of the Australia Day national holiday
“The flag represents the timeless history of our land and our people’s time on it,” he said in a statement.
ALSO READ: Stolen but not silent: Aborigines protest national celebrations
The
government has paid $20 million to Thomas and to extinguish licenses
held by a small number of companies which have stirred controversy since
2018 by demanding payment for the flag’s reproduction.
A
parliamentary inquiry in 2020 said the license holder had demanded
payment from health organizations and sporting clubs, which could lead
to communities stopping using the flag to avoid legal action.
Prominent Aboriginal Australians including former Olympian Nova Peris led a “Free the Flag” campaign.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said the flag had become an enduring symbol for Aboriginal people.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“Now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no one can take it away.”
READ MORE: Australian inquiry recommends laws for Aboriginal heritage
Australia
Day celebrations, marked with a national public holiday on Jan 26,
have become controversial because the date is seen by indigenous
Australians as marking the invasion of their land by Britain.
It
is the date a British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 to start
a penal colony, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encountering
settlements.
There has been debate over whether to move the national holiday to another date.