We fly it, we parade it, we wave it, we wear it. On Australia day, you can’t walk down a street without seeing one. But why doesn’t the Australian flag actually represent us? Without hesitation, I agree the symbolism on a national flag is of the utmost importance. The United States have their precious Stars & Stripes, Japan their rising sun and Britain have the blending of three crosses. We could go through flag after flag and either point out the symbolism or research it. However, the Australian flag, or more correctly the British Blue Ensign should not remain our flag, as the real symbolism is no longer relevant. Modern Australians understand the Southern Cross, but they do not at all understand the Union Jack in the corner. It is time to change and to represent the culturally diverse, indigenous valuing country we are known to be. …show more content…
Aborigines are the first and foremost Australian citizens and our national flag symbolises universal justice and freedom for all our people. If the Union Jack is on the flag to represent history, then it does not represent the full history of the people of this continent. History according to the flag can only date back to the establishment of British settlement in 1788. Of course the history of Australia stretches back many thousands of years before 1788, throughout the history and culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. There is a growing awareness in Australia of the need for acknowledgment of indigenous history and culture. The current flag does not reflect this heritage. Overall, it is no doubt that we should represent our native inhabitants in our flag
Looks amazing does not it, The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from the International Space station conversely it is home to over 1500 species of different animals not even counting the coral in the Great Barrier Reef. Moreover one of the seven wonders of the world. Although it looks spectacular you should contemplate this will not last long! Enough for YOU to visit The Great barrier reef
The Australian flag is well overdue for a change. The current flag is outdated and the Southern Cross and the Union Jack are no longer relevant or unique to Australia. The present Australian flag also fails to be instantly recognisable, confusing foreigners, as it is too similar to many other countries. Yet, for me, the most important reason the flag needs changing is to represent Aboriginal Australia and to encourage Aboriginal Reconciliation, by creating a flag that incorporates Aboriginal elements and our native history. By doing this we would be representing all Australians. Clearly, the Australian flag should be
So you’re thinking about joining FFA, and you don’t know if it’s a good fit for you. You don’t think you fit the stereotype that is meant to be in FFA. First let's start off with what FFA stands for, it stands for Future Farmers of America. While FFA is the traditional name we had a name change in 1988 to show the diversity in agriculture that it is not only farming but a variety of different focuses. So even if you're not into farming there is more then likely something that you would find that you would enjoy.
At the point when mapping out your Australian get-away, a visit to Queensland's capital may not be your first decision. The nation's third biggest city is frequently ignored for Australia's all the more surely understood visitor problem areas, as Sydney and Melbourne. However, Brisbane's subtropical atmosphere, flourishing expressions and unrecorded music scene and flock of outside to-dos make it a commendable destination for your next excursion Down Under.
In surveying Australian film production over the last century, what visibly occurs is a general evasion of Aboriginal issues and an absence of any balanced representation of Australia’s notable Indigenous population. But I need to add, that things are changing. Several recent films seek to redress this imbalance and provide a substantial Indigenous storyline.
In 2018 English Broadcaster and Naturalist Sir David Attenborough said, “The Great Barrier Reef will be dead by 2100.” Sir David Attenborough is not far off as already two third of the great barrier reef has either perished away or currently dying. Smart.Co is here to help Australia fix the great barrier reef with the plastic problem one by
Australia has only been here for little over 200 years whereas other countries have a lot of history with solid identities. Australian art is an important factor that helps to create its identity because its artists are passionate about the unique aspects and symbols of Australia and they incorporate them into their works to really show what they think Australia is.
The pursuit for a national day has been a part of an effort to define our unique national identity and a day that defines it. Australia Day is a subject of debate, reflecting the fact that national identity is unsolidified and difficult to delineate. In this essay I will outline the argument that Australia’s national day should reflect both its present day society and history, with the help of articles from ‘The Conversation’, ’Modern Australia’s defining moment came long after the First Fleet’ and ‘Australia Day nationalism walks in the footsteps of ugly precedents.’ Australia day should be completely unrelated to British colonialism and its catastrophic impacts on Aboriginal people and their culture and encompass the multicultural society it is today. More significantly however, it should quite simply be a day that has significant historical relevance for present day
Let's take it back to the 27th of May, 1967. The Australian Referendum, called by the Holt Government is about to decide whether or not citizens of Australia believe that Indigenous Australians should be given the right to vote. Although this was a successful referendum, in the government's eyes, this was going to give the recognition that the Indigenous Australians wanted. But it didn’t. The goal was to achieve a transformative lobby to concede the adverse wrongs of our colonial past. If that is so, how is it that 50 years later, this multicultural country and its government are still continuing to fail the First Australians, and ignoring the recognition they deserve - to be recognised in the Constitution.
There are many diverse interpretations of the words “Australian Identity”. The national anthem, as evidenced in Stand Up, is a primarily white interpretation of Australia and the Australian identity, with many of the lines ignoring the Indigenous people of Australia (Perkins et al, 2012). Another form of the “Australian Identity” was one presented by Prime Minister Paul Keating in his Redfern Address in 1992. He proclaimed that “Australia is a first-rate social democracy…truly the land of the fair go and the better chance”. This idea presented represents an egalitarian society, where every single human has an equal opportunity at life. Yet another, shown in the songs Paul Kelly sang, but especially in “this land is mine” is the difference between the identity of Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians (Kelly et al, 2001). Each of these texts addressed a major issue. Stand Up compared the relative value of tradition and the right to freedom of expression. Keating’s speech expressed the need for justice and recognition of both the stolen generation and the injustices done to the Indigenous people as a whole. Kelly’s songs represent the importance of the land to Indigenous people and why the “returning of the land” is so important. Although they each mentioned a major issue, the texts all gave solutions to these issues, from reiterating the importance of the basic human right of freedom of speech in Stand Up, to explaining the role and qualities of the Aboriginal
In 1984, Peter McCormick’s “Advance Australia Fair” officially became Australia’s national anthem. A song we proudly sing both on Anzac Day and Australia Day, with our hand’s on our heart. Should we be proud to sing a song about absolute lies? “Australians all let us rejoice, For we are young and free”, it took aboriginals over 60 years to be recognized as human beings, let alone Australians, they were anything but free. “For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share”, that whole sentence is a lie, we have stopped the boats, we don't want to share our boundless plains. We lock up our immigrants in Detention Centers, replicating that of cages. All of us here are living a free life and a safe life and for the majority of us, it is our reality and has been since the day we were born. I’m
The Australian flag whilst not having any direct symbols of the original indiginous owners, The Australian flag depicts a multi cultural country. However changing the flag would lose recognition of many other races for years to come which we cant afford as a country. There has been tremendus support fot the current flag which is used on a wide variety of public uses such as hand wavers on anzac day and lapel pins.
The article by Sarrah le Marquand, ‘Apathy wins flag debate’ appears in the tabloid of The Advertiser (February 2, 2013), and online at ‘The Punch: Australia’s best conversation’, under a different title, ‘Flagging This Change is not unAustralian’. This political opinion is to remove the Union Jack from the Australian flag. This is an important topic, as National flag’s construct symbolic meaning, identity and “pride” of country (Fozdar, Spittles & Harlety, 2014, p. 2). As a political writer, Sarrah le Marquand's career has been in the entertainment industry, soap operas, for The Daily Telegraph, for film and as an editor for columnist features’ (News Limited, 2014).
The American flag not only stands for pride, freedom, and strength but the colors on the flag have a meaning behind them that all Americans should understand. In a description of the flag on a website dedicated solely to the Flag of the United States of America is states "The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice" (US Flag 2005). The flag was not just thrown together to represent the country but also have a true meaning behind them. The stars and stripes on the flag have both an exact meaning but also have the meaning of
Australia has always been centered around diversity and change, specifically with the vast multiculturalism and migrant culture throughout the nation. The specifics of Identity hold an important role in shaping our identity as students and as a nation. Australians pride themselves on being a land of the free and full of diverse culture. This is specifically referred to in our national Anthem; “For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine,”(McCormick, 1984). Displaying Australia’s open attitude towards immigrants and contributes to the diversity present within our society today. Even before this, much of Australia’s Identity was associated with caucasian culture (Originating from British Settlers). Which is the dominant perception of Australia through the media with australian representation being present through the stereotypes of Bogans, which was made popular through shows like Kath and Kim (ABC, 2007). Also, represented through the popular depiction of Australian people - the bushman made popular by movies like Crocodile Dundee (Faiman, 1986) and through famous real life bushman; Steve Irwin. An important aspect of Australian identity which is consistently neglected is the culture and representation of the initial owners of the land; the aboriginal people. Throughout history the constant mistreatment and neglect of the indigenous, has lead to a massive gap in privilege between the aboriginal people and our