A YOUNG Aboriginal woman from Ballarat says a grave injustice is being served to Indigenous people in Daylesford.
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While an Australian flag takes pride of place at the Daylesford Town Hall, an Aboriginal flag is yet to be flown from a flagpole in the heart of the township.
Sissy Austin, 21, told The Courier that she would not stop lobbying the Hepburn Shire until she saw the black, red and yellow colours of her people’s flag floating in the sky of Daylesford’s main street.
Ms Austin said that of the 79 councils throughout Victoria, only eight did not fly the Aboriginal flag. The Hepburn Shire Council is one of them.
Ms Austin began lobbying the council in October last year, following her Acknowledgement to Country speech at the annual Daylesford community fete.
She grew up in Daylesford with her family, before moving to Ballarat to continue her education.
Ms Austin said she was initially told by the council that flying the Aboriginal flag would be disruptive to the historic overlay of the main street.
Since then, Ms Austin said she has been told that council’s hands were tied due to stringent Australian flag protocols enforced by the federal government.
“I think the whole situation is insane,” she said.
“To say it would disrupt the historic overlay is incredibly disrespectful. They are comparing buildings which are years old to one of the oldest known human races to walk the earth.”
Ms Austin said that while the Hepburn Shire displayed the Aboriginal flag during days of national Indigenous recognition, including NAIDOC Week, it was hung from the mayor’s balcony rather than a flagpole.
“Hanging it off the side of balcony is just hurtful and disrespectful,” she said. “It is a token gesture. It should be displayed the same way an Australian national flag or any national flag is displayed.”
Hepburn Shire chief executive officer Aaron van Egmond said the difficulty was that the Daylesford Town Hall only had one flagpole.
He said Australian flag protocols prescribed by the federal government stated that the “Australian national flag takes precedence over all other flags”.
“The absence of an additional flagpole has prevented the council from flying the Indigenous flag,” he said.
Mr Van Egmond said the council was committed to recognising Indigenous cultures within the municipality and that it was taking steps to erect an additional flagpole at the town hall building so that the Indigenous flag could fly alongside the Australian national flag.
The council said it was in the process of obtaining quotes to have another flagpole erected.
melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au