January 26 a fateful day

January 26 is the date on which Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove and claimed Australia as a British colony. It is observed as Australia Day or Invasion Day.

This is the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in November last year. The Embassy was established in January 1972 by four Aboriginal men who erected a beach umbrella on the lawn outside the Australian Parliament. Canberra is full of foreign embassies and the tent embassy was meant to highlight the difference between those luxurious buildings and the living conditions of Aboriginal people. In various forms it has been there ever since. Apparently it was not illegal to erect tents on the Parliamentary lawns, provided there were no more than eleven. Twelve would constitute a camping site and could be moved on.

The Aboriginal flag just visible in the photo was designed by Aboriginal man Harold Thomas and has been flown at the Embassy since 1972. It has just been announced that the Commonwealth has bought the copyright to the flag from the previous private owner, so that it can be freely used and accorded the same status as the other Australian flags – the Australian flag, featuring the union jack and the stars of the southern cross, and the Torres Strait Islander flag.

Addition to my blip 24 January: Dylan Alcott is the new Australian of the Year!