Summary
White cotton T-Shirt with a colour screen print of the Australian Aboriginal flag, manufactured by Fire Fox, Australia, for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988.
This t-shirt was produced as part of the campaign organised by Indigenous Australians in protest at the celebration of the bicentenary. On 26 January 1988, more than 40,000 people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from across the country and non-Indigenous supporters, staged the largest march in Sydney since the Vietnam moratorium. The long march for justice, freedom and hope protested the invasion of Australia and its re-enactment and celebration 200 years later. This Indigenous-led protest over the "celebration of a nation" instigated public debate concerning white and Indigenous Australian history, the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contemporary society and the possibilities of land rights and reconciliation in the future.
Physical Description
White cotton T-Shirt with a colour screen print of a the Australian Aboriginal flag (rectangle with black top half, red lower half and yellow circle in the centre). The T-Shirt has black text on the back and front.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
Clothing & Textiles, Home & Community, Public Life & Institutions
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Acquisition Information
Purchase
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Manufacturer
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Place Used
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Other Association (See Comments)
Harold Thomas, Australia
Designer of Aboriginal Flag. Thomas is the designer of the Aboriginal flag; this design is copyright. Fire Fox did not contact him about the use of his design. -
Inscriptions
Printed text: WHITE AUSTRALIA/HAS A/BLACK HISTORY/DON'T/CELEBRATE/ 88
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Overall Dimensions
87 cm (Length), 71 cm (Height)
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Exhibition Collection Management
870 mm (Width), 710 mm (Height)
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References
Foley, Gary. The Sydney Morning Herald and Representation of the 1988 Bicentennial, May 1997, [Link 1] accessed 7 October 2004. The Age, 1987-1988. The Herald Sun, 1988. Thompson, John. White Australia has a Black History, presented at the Indigenous Research Ethics Conference, 27-29 September 1995, available from [Link 2] accessed 25 September 2004. Tickner, Robert Taking a stand: land rights to reconciliation [electronic resource], (Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin January 2003), 33, available from [Link 3] accessed 11 October 2004.
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Keywords
Aboriginal History, Aboriginal Issues, Aboriginal People, Activism, Australian Bicentenary, 1788-1988, Celebrations, Clothing, Flags, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous Activism, T-Shirts
