Harold Thomas Aboriginal Australian Artist and Former Activist

Harold Thomas was born in 1947 in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, Australia.  His mother was a Luritja woman and his father a Wombai man. A member of the stolen generation he was taken from his family at the age of seven and sent to South Australia’s St Frances House, an Anglican institution for Aboriginal boys.  When he was eleven he was fostered by an Anglican priest and his family, who lived in Willunga, south of Adelaide, South Australia.

Harold started out on the long journey as an artist after winning a scholarship to the South Australian School of Art at the age of seventeen.  He went on to become the first Aboriginal to graduate from an Australian art school.  Later, he was awarded an honorary degree in social anthropology from Adelaide University.

In 1970 Harold Thomas started working as a survey artist at the South Australian Museum. He took advantage of the rich cultural collection, immersing himself in Aboriginal art and artefacts.

While studying, Harold became involved in the Civil Rights Movement.  In 1971 Harold created a bold graphic artwork which was adopted for the Australian Aboriginal flag, first flown in Victoria Square, Adelaide, at the NADOC march. To this day the Aboriginal Flag remains a strong and unifying symbol for Aboriginal rights and justice.  “In my university days there was a question of identity amongst Aboriginal people”, Harold says. “People stood up during marches for civil rights to express their Aboriginal identity. The flag stood for all of that. The colours reflect an awakening of their emerging political consciousness.”

Over fifty years have passed since the Aboriginal Flag’s creation. It is a national flag of Australia and copyright now belongs to the Commonwealth of Australia, as custodian for the people of Australia.

Harold says: “When I created the Flag, I created it as a symbol of unity and pride. That pride we have for our identity that harks back to the birthing of our dreaming, to the present existence and beyond. And we humble ourselves and give homage to all that has been created and left for us.  The Aboriginal Flag was never intended to be a political platform.  In the future, the Flag will remain, not as a symbol of struggle, but as a symbol of pride and unity.”

“My people’s capacity to rise above such depressing circumstances to express themselves in art is one of the greatest phenomenal art movements in the world. And what it has given to Australia as a nation is the finest gift and contribution to its identity as a whole.”

Chrystal Dare Special Counsel Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Corrs Chambers Westgarth is Australia’s leading independent law firm with a full-service offering, a team of over 1000 people and a 175-year history of legal excellence in Australia.

Chrystal Dare is one of Corrs’ leading IP practitioners with over 15 years’ experience advising Australian and international clients on intellectual property issues.

Chrystal is a copyright specialist and expert in trade marks and brand protection.

Chrystal led Corrs’ team acting in one of Australia’s most significant copyright matters, negotiating the ultimate assignment of copyright in the Australian Aboriginal Flag by Harold Thomas to the Commonwealth of Australia – a ~$20m deal announced by the Australian Prime Minister in 2022, and one of the largest art transactions in Australia’s history. 

Aside from her strong IP advisory and litigation practice, Chrystal is passionate about shaping the future of Australia’s IP system to properly recognise and protect Australian Indigenous cultural knowledge and Indigenous art.

Chrystal also sits on the board of the peak body for art galleries, the Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV) – representing over 60 art galleries in Australia who together reach 5.3 million visitors annually – and in that role advocates for greater inclusion and profiling of Australian Indigenous art and artists.

Professor Megan Davis Pro Vice-Chancellor Society University of New South Wales.

Professor Dr Megan Davis grew up in Eagleby and Hervey Bay and is a Cobble Cobble woman of the Barunggam Nation. Prof. Davis is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Society (PVCS) at UNSW Sydney. Professor Davis is also the Balnaves Chair of Constitutional Law, a Professor of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law Centre UNSW Law.

She is a renowned constitutional lawyer and public law expert, focusing on the human rights of First Nations peoples. She has been a leading lawyer on constitutional reform for the recognition of First Nations rights for two decades and has led the Uluru Statement from the Heart work for the past five years. She was a Commissioner on the QLD Commission of Inquiry into Youth Detention Centres in 2016 and was the Chair and author of ‘Family is Culture’, an inquiry into NSW Aboriginal Out of Home care (2017-2019).

She is a globally recognised expert in Indigenous rights and was elected by the UN Human Rights Council to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples based in Geneva in 2017 and again in 2019 (2019-2022) and was previously elected by the Economic and Social Council in New York serving for six years as an expert member and Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, UN Headquarters in New York (2011-2016).

Prof Davis is an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission, a director on the Cowboys Community Foundation Board, a Commissioner for Western Australia Rugby League Commission and director on the International Rugby League board.

Latika Bourke Journalist Sydney Morning Herald

Latika Bourke is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in London.

She has been based in the UK for seven years and previously covered federal politics in the Canberra press gallery. In London, she covers and writes opinion pieces on a range of topics including her specialty Australian politics, British politics, foreign affairs as well as the arts, travel and business.

Latika began her career as a radio presenter in her home town of Bathurst in country New South Wales in Australia before joining the Sydney Radio 2UE newsroom. She was posted to Canberra in 2008 and quickly rose to become one of the press gallery's most prominent news breaking journalists and also widely regarded for her innovative use of social media for both newsgathering and news-telling. Between 2010 and 2014, she worked in television and online as a Political reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2015, Allen & Unwin published her first book, From India with Love, a memoir about being adopted into an Australian family as a baby from India.

She is an experienced moderator and MC and regularly appears as a guest and panelist on Australian and British television programs.