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Flags and Symbols
24 January 2007


It will be Australia Day soon (January 26) and the organisers of a major rock festival - Big Day Out - traditionally held around this time have banned the Australian Flag because of fears it will be used by racist trouble-makers. Not surprisingly this has sparked some major rows, with politicians from all parties condemning the decision.

To me, the deeper issue is the Australian flag itself. For those who don't know, it is the stars of the Southern Cross with the British Union Jack inset. This reflects the view - when the flag was first designed - of Australia as a little corner of Britain set in the Southern hemisphere. This view has been dominant for much of the last century and resulted in policies like the "White Australia" policy.

As a British citizen living in Australia, one of the things I love about being here is the mix of cultures living, for the most part, in harmony. The aboriginal people have living in this land for at least 60,000 years, which makes the two centuries of White Australia seem insignificant. White Australia was founded on a lie - that this was an empty land which we "discovered". It is this lie which leads white racists to believe that they belong here more than others. A couple of days ago a Muslim Indonesian girl who came for the "Australia as a neighbour" conference was shocked to be told by an elderly white man "why don't you people go home". How ironic! I wonder how that man would have reacted to an aboriginal person saying the same thing to him.

National symbols are important as things which bind us together. It is right that Australia should celebrate its achievements and that Australians should be proud of their flag. I just wonder if it is the right flag!




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