Monash Magazine

Flying the Flag of Reconciliation

A Monash designer has put his talents to work for the cause of reconciliation between black and white Australians, writes Karen Meehan.

Reconciliation is a difficult and often slow process, but a Monash academic is playing his part to ensure that the flag keeps flying.

As a lecturer in visual communication at Monash's Caulfield campus, Mr Russell Kennedy knows that symbols have a vital place in the transfer of big ideas. Like artworks, they can be powerful and resonant -- much more so than words -- and can communicate complex messages across literacy, language and cultural divides. Mr Kennedy is the designer of an innovative flag for Aboriginal reconciliation, a movement which has so far been dominated by the contributions of ordinary Australians.

Flag search

For designer Mr Russell Kennedy, symbols have a vital place in society.

It was the Ausflag '88 competition -- for the bicentennial of white settlement -- that first sparked Mr Kennedy's interest in how national identity is communicated through the use of flags. "I'm a visual communicator, a graphic designer," he says. "At the time, I saw this as the ultimate corporate image job: a logo which sums up the identity of the whole country."

Placed runner-up in Ausflag, Mr Kennedy was encouraged to try a new idea for the 1993 Herald-Sun's 'Flag Search'. His prize-winning red, white and blue design, combining the twin symbols of the Southern Cross and a kangaroo silhouette, was an instant success.

Simplicity is the hallmark of the design, with a touch of innovation: the kangaroo appears to bound forward as the flag flaps in the breeze. Says Mr Kennedy: "The kangaroo is a strong, proud, athletic animal. It's an earth creature for Aboriginal Australia, and also recognised as a symbol by non-indigenous Australians. But more importantly, the kangaroo is seen overseas as the quintessential Australian symbol."

"The urgency of reconciliation -- in restoring Australia's first peoples to their rightful place of dignity and honour in this country -- is immediate."

Although Mr Kennedy's idea was soon dropped by a media ever-hungry for something new, gradually the flag began to take on a life of its own. Its creator took the issue of Australian flags as his research topic for a Master of Arts at Monash, and through consultation with local Aboriginal elders eventually developed the early design into two versions: one a national flag of blue, gold and white, the other a symbol for Aboriginal reconciliation of gold, red and black.

While the issue of a national flag languishes with the stalled republic debate, the public groundswell for reconciliation has seen Mr Kennedy's second flag slowly adopted as an unofficial symbol for the linking of black and white Australians. The outer-Melbourne shire of Nillumbik recently endorsed the reconciliation flag, and it will now be officially flown on days of local Aboriginal significance. Mr Kennedy hopes other local government authorities will follow this progressive move.

Mr Kennedy has also developed the flag design into a partnership logo for corporate Australia to show its support for the reconciliation movement: "What we've got at the moment is a situation where people are saying they support reconciliation but not really putting up their hand. There's no visible identification for companies that support reconciliation. It's something that people don't speak loudly about."

Ms Helen Curzon-Siggers, a former director of the Monash Orientation Scheme for Aborigines and long-time supporter of Mr Kennedy's design, says the focus this year is on getting the flag publicly launched as a reconciliation symbol. "Everywhere we've gone with this design, people love it," she said. "The urgency of reconciliation -- in restoring Australia's first peoples to their rightful place of dignity and honour in this country -- is immediate, in order to achieve peaceful and productive race relations, now and in the future. The reconciliation flag signifies to me that truth and justice prevail in Australia and that the reality of forgiveness operates, allowing the free movement of integrity and honour to bound forward for all Australians."

But symbols as significant as flags, Mr Kennedy argues -- like the reconciliation process itself -- must be endorsed by the public at large to be truly successful. The designer's challenge is to satisfy the differing and often conflicting demands of all interested parties. "To communicate reconciliation is difficult," says Mr Kennedy, "and general agreement may take a long time."

Integral process

For Mr Kennedy, however, reconciliation is a process integral to Australia's growth as a nation -- whether or not his flag is ever adopted as its official message-bearer. "Most flags are born out of political instability," he comments. "In Australia, we've had a pretty smooth history, but our most turbulent time was white settlement, which was incredibly destabilising to the indigenous population. If we can somehow repair that problem, we could go a long way to repairing our future."

It's a Big, Big World, an exhibition of Monash Art and Design students' work, is on at The Gallery at Monash University's Caulfield campus from 18 May to 3 June. For details, contact gallery manager Mr Malcom Bywaters on +61 3 9903 2882.