Created By: Steph Beck
ARTIST: Alex Tui and Harold Thomas
DATE: 2000
Since 1971 the Aboriginal flag has grown to become one of the most powerful and iconic symbols for Aboriginal people across Australia.
The flag was designed in 1971 by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from central Australia, who at the time had recently graduated with honours from the South Australian School of Art in 1969. Thomas felt the need for a flag after attending the National Aborigines Day march in 1970.
What do the colours of the Aboriginal flag mean? What do the colours of the Aboriginal flag represent? Those are some of the first questions asked by people learning about Aboriginal culture. There are only three colours; red, yellow and black. The flag consists of a red rectangle which sits below a black rectangle with a yellow circle in the middle.
Red – The red symbolises the land we walk on and red ochre.
Yellow – The yellow represents the sun which gives life.
Black – The black represents Aboriginal people.
In 2000, Redfern’s iconic Aboriginal flag was painted up by former Tongan born world champion kickboxer, Alex Tui at the Block. Tui choose a design the indigenous community ''would identify with and they'd be proud of''.
''I thought it was something that would bring people together and [reaffirm] ownership of their part of Sydney,'' said Mr Tui, who raised his family on Eveleigh Street. ''At that time there was a lot of bad news, all negative, about the Block … but there's a lot of good things about the Block. I found I was accepted there more than anywhere else I lived in Sydney.''
In 2014, Ilai Tui along with father Alex, manager of the Elouera-Tony Mundine Gym and kids from the local community, re-painted the Aboriginal flag on the back of the gym.
Description from; https://www.welcometocountry.org/aboriginal-flag-history/
This point of interest is part of the tour: Redfern Street Art Excursion
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