Talk:Australian Aboriginal Flag

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Australian Aboriginal Flag was the Australian Collaboration of the Fortnight on November 28, 2005. For details on how the article improved, see the ACOTF history

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There was a 1997 court battle over this flag which would be interesting to cover here.

Contents 1 Role in new Australian flags 2 Not PD 3 Black 4 Featured flags 5 Condoms

[edit] Role in new Australian flags

A lot of people have suggested replacing the Union Jack with the Aboriginal flag in the canton of the Australian flag. I don't have the time to research it myself, but if I recall correctly the designer of the flag (who has copyright over it, by the way) does not approve such use. If anyone can find anything, that might be worth noting somehow. El T 13:16, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

I think there was a discussion about this somewhere. As I'm only making a brief stop in, I don't have time to find it, but I remember somebody arguing there was no copyright. I agree that any expansion should take into account the flag's potential uses. --Cyberjunkie | Talk 13:20, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Not PD

It's a very sad thing, but I really, really don't think this flag is PD. Please see Image talk:Australian aboriginal flag.png for discussion.

--pfctdayelise 18:27, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

• The book Australian Flags produced by the Awards and Symbols branch of the Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet (2nd edn 1998) is explicit that the flag is copyright and may only be reproduced with the permission of Mr Thomas. I believe that means no legislation would override. I will try to take a picture of the flag flying. In the meantime, I believe the image should be deleted. We can use a current picture of the tent embassy.--A Y Arktos 22:13, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

If the Aboriginal flag at Image:Australian aboriginal flag.png is a copyvio, then so is the second image currently on this article (Image:Aboriginal australian republican flag.PNG), which is derived from it according to that image's description. --Scott Davis ^Talk 00:31, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

There is no reason that the flag image cannot be used under the provisions of fair use. Just floow the instructions on Wikipedia:Image description page, and add the tag {{fairusein}}. The images should most probably be removed from the Australian flag template.--nixie 01:17, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Ok I have added the fair use tag to the republican flag and uploaded to wikipedia rather than commons which didnt allow fair use, so I put it back in the article Astrokey44 03:43, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Black

I know its popularly said to represent "the people's skin" but I think black on this flag is more likely to represent the night sky. People dont often put their skin colour on a flag? and even if they did it would be brown rather than black. It would be like white people thinking the white parts of the Australian flag also represent the peoples skin. Astrokey44 22:03, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

• A quote from Thomas in the article: "The other factor why I had it on top was the Aboriginal people walk on top of the land." Apparently Thomas identifies his people with the colour black, and the colour is intended to refer to the people. I think this quote refutes the "night sky" theory. However, Thomas says nothing about skin colour, so we can only speculate that skin colour forms the basis for this. Snottygobble | Talk 03:52, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, though I did read somewhere that when he created it, it was ambiguous. I think that quote was from the court case in 97. perhaps it was unclear what the colours meant when it was created but he clarified it later? Astrokey44 04:03, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Good point. Snottygobble | Talk 04:21, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Featured flags

There are a couple of featued flag articles, like Flag of Hong Kong and Flag of South Africa which could be used to help structure this article. There should probably also be a mention that despite suggestion- Thomas does not want a hybrid of this flag to replace the current Aus Flag.--nixie 10:59, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Condoms

Enough reverting! I think I removed this from the article myself at one stage: [[Condom]]s in the colours of the Aboriginal flag won a health award in 2005. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1502307.htm] I don't support this being in the article. Maybe if it was explained, as per the article, that it was to encourage Aboriginal people to have safe sex, familiarity etc... or maybe we should put that in some article on indigeneous health. They weren't even in the design of the flag - just the colours.

I also don't support a random news story about the flag being desecrated, as was at one stage being added. To my mind they're similarly irrelevant.

User:Pharoz - careful with your Wikipedia:Minor edits. Adding or removing information should rarely if ever be marked "minor". pfctdayelise 16:16, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

• It is verifiable information and I think it should stay. The ABC new item references the flag. I have reincluded with the slight expansion suggested by Pfctdayelise. --A Y Arktos 20:37, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

I think it would be better in a broader context, mentioning how the colours of the flag are used in many contexts. JPD (talk) 09:33, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I would second the comment above by JPD, placing this issue in a broader context of how the colours of the flag are used in many contexts. I thought the first draft of this comment was inconguent with the rest of the article, and with an entry on a flag; but the current draft is an improvement. How people from outside Australia would read the page might also be considered. My apologies for incorrectly marking my edit as "minor". Pharoz 14:35, 17 January 2006 (UTC)