Fake Aboriginal Art !

It is a sad fact of life that much of the " Aboriginal " souvenirs visitors to Australia buy and take home to commemorate their visit has absolutely nothing to do with the Indigenous people of this continent.  It is not even made in Australia.  This is simply " fake art " which is made in village workshops in Indonesia and intended to reap a big profit for the company bringing it into Australia.

This is cheap junk and what it is doing is under valuing the opportunity for remote Aboriginal communities to develop a genuine cottage industry in the bush where job opportunities are limited. The fake items on sale include boomerangs, bullroarers, message stones and even plastic didgeridoos inscribed with the words " genuine " and " Australia ".  Efforts have been made to duplicate the symbols and appearance that are recognised as traditional Aboriginal art.

The company responsible for this deception is now in liquidation and facing the Federal court on a charge of making false and misleading representations that products it sold were made in Australia and hand painted by Australian Aboriginal people.  The Australian Competition and Consumer Association is urging the court to award a penalty in the nature of a two million dollar fine, but the company is insolvent and that money will never reach the Aboriginal communities that have suffered harm.

This is a wake up call to stop the exploitation of Aboriginal art by non-Indigenous interests and to give it protection by the laws of patent and copyright to ensure that only the genuine product is reaching the souvenir outlets where this type of material is sold.  What is needed is an Aboriginal distribution company tasked with ensuring items originate from genuine sources and are sold at a rate which ensures that adequate profit flows back to the remote villages which are the source of this art form.

There is another expression of Aboriginality which is widely misused - and that is the Aboriginal flag. It was designed by Luritja artist and land rights activist Uncle Harold Thomas in 1971 and is protected by patent.  He still holds copyright on the design and allows its use on non commercial projects that deliver assistance to the Aboriginal community.   It has become the insignia of Indigenous Australia and proudly flies on our Harbour bridge and many council buildings.

Over time, the concept of reconciliation has progressed between the original inhabitants of this continent and the arrival of colonists from the northern hemisphere.  That is still a work in progress and it seems that some time in the future it may be the wish of the Australian people that this country become a republic and replace the monarchy with a presidential system.

When - and if - that happens it will obviously necessitate a review of our national flag and perhaps the greatest signal that reconciliation had been achieved would be the blending of those two flags.The replacement of the Union Jack with the Aboriginal flag would signify the people here before 1788 and the people who came after that date as a united people.