The AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round wrapped up last night, celebrating the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players to our game.
The round saw the Sydney Swans take the Marn Grook tradition to Perth’s Optus Stadium. But in our game, as with every game over the weekend, there was a notable absentee.
For the first time, the AFL’s Indigenous Round did not feature the Aboriginal flag, due to copyright restrictions.
What are the restrictions?
The Aboriginal flag originated in 1971, when artist Harold Thomas of the Luritja people designed the flag as part of the land rights movement.
By 1995, the flag was an iconic symbol for Aboriginal people and the Governor General issued a proclamation that it become an official flag of Aboriginal people in Australia.
Two years later, the Federal Court officially recognised Harold Thomas as the creator of the flag, protecting it under the Copyright Act of 1968 and ensuring it could only be reproduced with his permission.
Mr Thomas has since granted exclusive licenses to use the flag to three companies: WAM Clothing, Gifts Mate and Flag World.
It means the flag can’t be reproduced on clothing or in digital form by any other businesses or organisations, and meant the AFL was unable to paint the Aboriginal flag on grounds, as it has in Sir Doug Nicholls Round in previous years.
Why is it important?
The Aboriginal flag is a powerful and unifying symbol, yet it’s the only proclaimed National Flag that is privately owned and licensed.
In 2019, Clothing The Gap, an Aboriginal owned social enterprise, launched the Free the Flag campaign, calling for new licensing agreements over the flag’s design, especially for Aboriginal businesses and organisations.
Ahead of the Marn Grook game last weekend, both the Swans and Fremantle showed their support for the #FreetheFlag movement by wearing warm up tees supplied by Clothing The Gap.
The Sydney Swans support Clothing The Gap’s aim for the Aboriginal flag to be celebrated, without the need to ask for permission or the need to pay for its use.
To find out more, or sign Clothing The Gap’s #PrideNotProfit petition, visit: https://clothingthegap.com.au/pages/free-the-flag
