Culture

Anger As The Aboriginal Flag Is Flown At Half-Mast On The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Aboriginal flag is reportedly being lowered along with the national flag in mourning the Queen, ignoring the connection between First Nations people and colonialism.

by Charles Rushforth  9 September 2022

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After the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, government buildings have been spotted lowering the Aboriginal flag to half-mast in mourning, seemingly in spite of the obvious connection between British royalty and colonialism.

Scenes of the Aboriginal flag being lowered to half-mast have attracted scrutiny online today, as the Australian government appears to implement procedures mourning the death of Royal monarch Elizabeth II. As news broke earlier today of the Queen’s death, pictures of the Aboriginal flag on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge have circulated on social media, showing the flag is being currently flown at half-mast.

As users on Twitter share more sightings of the Aboriginal flag being flown at half-mast, commentators are expressing concern that the government is discounting First Nations people’s ongoing experience with colonialism in Australia.

When contacted for comment, a media spokesperson for the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told Junkee that following the death of an English King or Queen the national flag “should be flown at half-mast until after the day of the funeral in the United Kingdom”.

However, other standards such as the flag representing the governor general “are to remain at full-mast”, with a representative telling Junkee that as that flag is a representation of the monarchy “which is continuous” it would be “therefore inappropriate to fly at half-mast”.

According to the department, when flying the Australian national flag in this occasion with a set of other flags, it is standard protocol to lower them all. However, the department goes on to note that if a set of flags includes the flags of other nations, it would be “appropriate to seek permission from the diplomatic representatives of that nation to half-mast their flag”.

Greens Senator and Djab Wurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe was recently criticised after referring to the monarch as the “colonising Queen” after being required to swear an oath during a parliamentary pledge of allegiance.

Photo Credit: Jennetta Quinn-Bates