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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 recognised 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.
“I hope that this arrangement provides comfort to all Aboriginal people and Australians to use the flag, unaltered, proudly and without restriction,” Thomas said of his deal with the Australian government.
“I am grateful that my art is appreciated by so many, and that it has come to represent something so powerful to so many.”
Indigenous artist and activist Harold Thomas photographed in Darwin, Northern Territory on 09 April, 1997 with the flag he designed in 1971. pic.twitter.com/b5j1t1mWfC
— John Donegan (@John__Donegan) January 24, 2022
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.
“The flag represents the timeless history of our land and our people’s time on it,” the artist said in a statement.
The government has paid $20 million to Thomas and to extinguish licences held by a small number of companies which have stirred controversy since 2018 by…
Source : france24
