A more detailed discussion of the different language and tribal groupings is found elsewhere.
Australian Aboriginal Flag:
The Australian Aboriginal Flag represents Aboriginal Australians. It is one of the official flags of Australia, and holds special legal and political status. It is often flown together with the national flag and with the Torres Strait Islander Flag, which is also an official flag of Australia.
The Australian Aboriginal Flag was designed in 1971 by Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas, who is descended from the Luritja people of Central Australia and holds intellectual property rights to the flag’s design. The flag was originally designed for the land rights movement, and it became a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia.
The flag’s width is 1.5 times its height. It is horizontally divided into a black region (above) and a red region (below). A yellow disc is superimposed over the centre of the flag.[1]
Status:
The Government of Australia granted it Flag of Australia status, under the Flags Act 1953, by proclamation on 14 July 1995.
In the 2008 proclamation, the flag “is recognised as the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and a flag of significance to the Australian nation generally” and appointed “to be the flag of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and to be known as the Australian Aboriginal Flag”.
Symbolic Meaning:
The symbolic meaning of the flag colors (as stated by Harold Thomas) is:
Black – represents the Aboriginal people of Australia
Yellow circle – represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector
Red – represents the red earth, the red ocher used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples’ spiritual relation to the land
History:
The flag was first flown on National Aborigines Day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 12 July 1971. It was also used in Canberra at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from late 1972. In the early months of the embassy—which was established in February that year—other designs were used, including a black, green and red flag made by supporters of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club, and a flag with a red-black field containing a spear and four crescents in yellow.
Cathy Freeman caused controversy at the 1994 Commonwealth Games by carrying the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian national flag during her victory lap of the arena, after winning the 200 meters sprint; only the national flag is meant to be displayed. Despite strong criticism from both Games officials and Australian team president Arthur Tunstall, Freeman carried both flags again after winning the 400 meters.
The decision in 1995 by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags should be given the status of national flags was opposed by the Liberal Opposition at the time, Opposition Leader John Howard stating that “any attempt to give the flags official status under the Flags Act would rightly be seen by many in the community not as an act of reconciliation but as a divisive gesture”. Nonetheless, since Howard became Prime Minister in 1996 and under subsequent Labor governments, these flags have remained national flags. However, this decision was differently criticized by Thomas himself, who said that the Aboriginal flag “doesn’t need any more recognition”.