Aboriginal protesters burned an Australian flag during a passionate decolonisation rally at Emma Miller Place today.
Chanting “resist, revive, decolonise”, the fired-up knot of about 100 protesters spoke emotionally about their links to the land and Australia’s bloody colonial history.
The flag wasn’t the only icon to go up in flames – protesters also burned paper mache effigies of Noel Pearson and Warren Mundine – widely seen as “sell-outs” in some Aboriginal groups for “turning their backs” on their own people.
The provocative protest came just a few days after Prime Minister Tony Abbott shocked and angered the Aboriginal community by claiming, for the second time this year, that Australia was nothing but bush before the arrival of Europeans – ignoring the presence of Australia’s original inhabitants.