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Image Not Available for Australian South Sea Islander Flag
Australian South Sea Islander Flag
Image Not Available for Australian South Sea Islander Flag

Australian South Sea Islander Flag

Date2019
Object number00055866
NameFlag
MediumMaterial
Dimensions900 x 1800mm
ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift of Waskam Emelda Davis
DescriptionAustralian South Sea Islander Flag. The flag's design incorporates colours that resonate with people with forebears from the Solomon’s (blue, white, green and gold) and Vanuatu (green, gold and black), as well as some other parts of the South Pacific (blue and white). The sympolism of the flags colours were attributed by South Sea Islander Elder women of the Tweed Heads community.  HistoryIn 1994, the Australian Government at last officially recognised the descendants of Australia’s “blackbirding” trade as a “Distinct Cultural Group”. Previously they had been marginalised beside the similarly disadvantaged Indigenous population (with whom they share some kinship). The ASSI flag was designed Tony Burton, of Flags Australiain 1994 in consultation with the executive of Australian South Sea Islanders United Council (ASSIUC). There was a recognised need for a simple flag that would stand with distinction alongside other flags and represent this distinct community. That was no small consideration at a time when the condition of the Australian South Sea Islanders was beginning to attract international attention - the ASSIUC President having addressed the UN Special Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva in 1994 - and finally in August 1994, belated recognition by the Commonwealth Government.  The flag was formally adopted in 1998 by ASSIUC.  Initially, the flag was presented in the proportions 3x5; however, it is now made in the proportions 1x2 as most flags in Australia are made longer to be the same size as the Australian national flag when displayed with it.  A flag-raising event in celebration marking 25 years since the recognition took place at the Australian National Maritime Museum on the morning of August 23rd 2019. The event was co-ordinated and emceed by the Chair of the ASSI Waskam Emelda Davis. Official dignitaries that spoke at the event included the Foreign Minister of Vanuatu Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, Senator the Hon Marise Payne Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister for Women, Mr (Alex) Alexander Hart Greenwich, MP, Deputy Lord Mayor - Councillor Jess Scully, Michael Harvey Assistant Director-Public Engagements, Research and Collections - Australian National Maritime Museum and Clive Moore, Emeritus Professor Clive Moore historian long involved with Pacific history. SignificanceThe Australian South Sea Islander Flag (ASSI) was designed in 1994 in an attempt to achieve recognition and equity for the descendants of the Pacific Islanders bought to Australia in the 19th Century, to work mainly in the sugarcane and timber industries.

This particular flag was flown at the Australian National Maritime Museum on 23 August 2019 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 1994 Commonwealth Governments recognition of the descendants of Australias Black Birding trade as a distinct cultural group.