OPINION PIECE: Myall Coast Flag Failure Ahead Of Australia Day Opinion by News Of The Area - Modern Media - January 25, 2022 The new Australian flag. Photo: Facebook. IT is a sad day when the Australian flag flying for a community is in a tattered state, especially before Australia Day. Fortunately the Hawks Nest community has been able to raise a new Australian Flag just in time to commemorate Australia Day. The community has noted that the Australian Flag is flying solo without an Indigenous Flag or a Torres Strait Island Flag anywhere to be seen. It seems that for some communities, perhaps those with lower profile, that the flags that fly sadly do not represent the progress that Australia has made towards reconciliation with our Nation’s first peoples. Port Stephens and the Myall region are the traditional home to the Worimi Nation and the region has an active Aboriginal Land Council. The Worimi (Warrimay) have always been and remain today the traditional custodians of a large area of land, The Worimi Nation. Oral history passed down by the Elders record that the Worimi Nation was originally bounded by four rivers, Hunter River to the south, Manning River to the north, the Allyn and Patterson Rivers to the west. The Worimi Nation was home to 18 clan groups or ‘ngurras’, with the Worimi Conservation Lands falling within the area of the Maiangal ngurra. Much of Worimi Country has changed dramatically since 1788, and dispossession has had significant impacts on Worimi people and their culture. As a result, the granting of the freehold title over the WCL means it is of particular significance to the Worimi. It is an area where the protection of Worimi cultural values has priority in Australian law, where decisions affecting Worimi Country and culture are made by Worimi people through their majority representation on the Board of Management, and where Worimi traditional owners are employed to implement these decisions. Today we should see the Indigenous Flag flying alongside the Australian Flag, it is visible at some Police Stations and even on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Surely the Indigenous flag should be flying proudly alongside a pristine Australian Flag at Hawks Nest, the community deserves no less. By Marian SAMPSON The New Australian Flag flies solo at Hawks Nest with an obvious omission of the Indigenous flag representing Australia’s first peoples – wouldn’t it be better to fly both flags together?
