Icon and ideology

Australia Day and is it any surprise that debate over our national flag and becoming a republic has hit the news? Ray Martin leads the charge this year, with our normally contrary political leaders for once sharing a coherent view, the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as well as the Prime Minister and Deputy declaring that our flag should and will remain unaltered. (1)

Mr. Abbott’s endorsement of the current icon, harking back to a colonial era that, “We shouldn't be in any way embarrassed about …” (2) fails to pay due consideration to the negative impact of laws enacted against the Indigenous population. But it is not Abbott’s comments that concern me the most, it is Julia Gillard’s explanation for why there’s no need to have a new flag to carry us into the future:

"Clearly, there are many things about the treatment of indigenous Australians that we regret, and that was one of the reasons that the prime minister said sorry". (3)

As if that is enough to atone for the decimation of race, the total annihilation of the full-blood native populace in at least one State and the practices that permitted the incarceration, maltreatment and virtual enslavement of those on the mainland. The paternalistic manner claimed by early settlers to justify the treatment of Aborigines (and still argued for by some current commentators) would have been better than the reality of the abuses that saw Indigenous prisoners AND witnesses chained at the neck, fed meagre rations while the police pocketed the extra cash (4) and forced to live and die on the reservations used to control a people of a different culture. (5)

After the creation of the new Commonwealth of Australia on 1st January 1901, a competition was announced to create a suitable flag. Five entrants who submitted similar designs shared the prize, our national symbol born on 3rd September 1901. (6) This flag, conceived in a fit of pride at our ‘coming of age’ as we graduated from colony to democratic nation, embodied the ideologies and attitudes of the time, enshrined in our Constitution. It represents the very attitudes that underpinned section 127:

“In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted.” (7)

This abhorrent clause was not repealed until 1967, when the referendum to allow our Indigenous people to vote was supported by over 90% of the voting public. Until that time, Aborigines were not counted in the national census. In conjunction with section 25, the effect was that people considered not eligible to vote in their own state, would be subject to the same limitation at the Federal level. As some states did not recognise Aborigines as the equal of those of non-Indigenous heritage (reinforced by the classification of Aborigines as fauna (8)), this had the effect of limiting the rights and voice of Indigenous Australians at all levels of government. (9, 10)

Let’s not forget section 51 (xxvi), amended earlier in 1946 (11), which excluded the Aborigines from the protection that every other race was afforded under the new Constitution:

“The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to … the people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws …” (12)

Again, this enshrined the sovereignty of the States over the local Indigenous population, negating section 109 of the Commonwealth Constitution. (13) This ensured that Aborigines were not afforded the same protections as other citizens by the highest courts in the land. It is perhaps ironic that the abolition of this very phrase legitimised, in part at least, the current Northern Territory Emergency Response, instigated by a Coalition Liberal-National Government and perpetuated by the Labor incumbent. Demonstration of how even the most benign seeming clause or change can wreak havoc!

Others point out that many people fought for this country under the current flag, yet those Aborigines who fought over the years were never afforded the same financial support offered to non-Indigenous servicemen and women when they returned. (14) This argument simply privileges a non-Indigenous view of history, ignoring the manner in which this country failed to extend its gratitude to our first inhabitants.

The argument of our Deputy Prime Minister who believes that saying ‘sorry’ and instigating welfare control and an health care plan of questionable effectiveness is enough (15, 16), is simply naïve. Our symbols must represent and project a positive image for all Australians and reflect the intentions of a current age, not a past pock-marked by racist ideology. The Australian flag, replete with Union Jack, harks to a colonialist era, one that failed to uphold and protect the Indigenous inhabitants of this land even when mandated by royal decree. (17)

It’s time the flag, as well as our national day, changed to reflect a more inclusive, collaborative outlook, not one that looks down, even now, upon those marginalised by a British history and current politics. Are we big enough, have we grown enough to allow the original inhabitants of this land an input into the international symbols of this nation?

(1) ‘Ray Martin Leads Push for New Flag’. Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Jan, 2010
(2) ‘Ray Martin Leads Push for New Flag’. Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Jan, 2010
(3) ‘Ray Martin Leads Push for New Flag’. Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Jan, 2010
(4) ‘Some Things Never Change’ Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(5) ‘Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld): Signifcance’ Documenting a Democracy, National Archives of Australia, Accessed 25 Jan 2010.
(6) ‘The Australian Flag History’, Australian National Flag Association, Accessed 25 Jan 2010.
(7) ‘Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act’, 9 Jul 1900, National Archives of Australia, p.37, Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(8) Kilcullen, J.‘The Australian Constitution: A First Reading.’ 2004 Accessed 24 Jan 2010
(9) Dawkins, K., ‘Didj “u” Know – Stories: 1967 Referendum.’ 1 Feb, 2004. Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(10) Cameron, K. ‘Discussion Papers: Aboriginal Struggle for Citizenship’. Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(11) ‘Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act: Amendment to Section 51’, Documenting Democracy, National Archives of Australia, Accessed 26 Jan 2010.
(12) ‘Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act’, 9 Jul 1900, National Archives of Australia, p.18, Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(13) ‘Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act’, 9 Jul 1900, National Archives of Australia, p.33, Accessed 25 Jan 2010
(14) Bibby, P., ‘Lest We Forget: Indigenous Diggers Still Fighting’. Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Apr, 2008, Accessed 25 Jan, 2010
(15) Jackson, A. ‘Child Health Worse Since Intervention’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 Jan 2009.
(16) No author, ‘Report has no Proof of Welfare Benefits’, Bigpond News, 15 Dec 2009, Accessed 15 Dec 2009.
(17) Dornin, T. ‘New Book Reveals SA Land Injustice’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 Dec 2009.