The aboriginal Australians had no concept of flags, but they knew the British who had taken colonized their lands held a special reverence for them. Aboriginal-rights activists created their own and used it often to call attention to their grievances against the British. Harold Thomas, an indigenous Austrian artist created the design, and that same year the Aboriginal flag flew for the first time.

On this day, July 12, in 1971, Aborigines Day in Australia took on special prominence in Victoria Square, in the southern Australian capital of Adelaide.

The aboriginal flag consists of a solid stripe of red on the bottom half, representing the red land and a spiritual connection to it; a black upper half representing the aboriginal people themselves; and a golden circle in the middle, superimposed over the stripes, representing the sun as a giver of life.