When thinking about the Aboriginal flag and copyright and the desire of the government to intervene to overturn the copyright protections of the Aboriginal flag, owned by the flag's creator Harold Thomas, let us consider the case of Albert Namatjira. a thread.

Albert Namatjira was perhaps the first Aboriginal visual art superstar. Painting in the European watercolour star he quickly became a celebrity and was able, at the peak of this, to support huge numbers of close and distant family financially.

In 1957 he became the first Aboriginal person in the Northern Territory to become a full Australian citizen due, in part, to petitioning by non-Indigenous artists incensed by such a great artists being a ward of the state as all Aboriginal people were.

Regardless of this he was refused the right, even though he could afford it, to build a house for his family in Alice Springs and to buy a cattle station so his extended family could have work and income; despite his fame and wealth he was stuck between two worlds.

In 1958, Namatjira was arrested and jailed for supplying alcohol to Aboriginal people, despite the fact that under cultural obligations he could not refuse family, who he was financially supporting, anything he could have including alcohol

It's obvious he was never seen as equal

In 1958 Namatjira died of heart problems, some say that his time in Jail, for an Aboriginal man of his age, contributed to his early death. In his will he left his copyrights to his family, particularly his wife.

He displayed strong agency with his rights

After some confusion regarding his copyrights they were disposed of, by the public trustees (appointed by the government) by selling them to the publisher who had his reproductive rights for $8,500 in 1988.

This was a ludicrously low sum.

There has been some debate why the trustee sold Namatjira's rights for so low a sum. Some say he undervalued them. The public trustee said it was a paperwork/administrative error; that the intent was to lease the rights to the publisher for the remaining time on the agreements

Namatjira died in 1957, therefore his paintings were copyright for 70 years past his death, which means until 2027
Reproduction rights to his paintings would have been nearly priceless, would have kept his family out of poverty for the last 60+ years ... if they had not been sold

Bear in mind that the public trustee did not sell reproduction rights but rather he sold the copyright itself, against Namatjira's will and that of his family. $8,500 was a pittance compared to the utter fortune reproduction license fees would have earned.

If not for the decision of the trustees the Namatjira family, and through them countless other central Australian Aboriginal families, would have earned wealth from his copyrights rather than living in poverty.

Recently, in 2017, Dick Smith, with a big hunk of his own money, substantially more than the $8,500 the Namatjira estate gained from the trustee's sale. The copyrights, rightfully theirs, were returned to the family for $1.

Unfortunately they had only 10 years of copyright left but have since sued the government for compensation for their 60 years of lost copyright and it was settled for a sum that was not made public.

So, the Namatjira case was different to the Thomas case that is unfolding but there are some things to unpack in their similarities and differences:

It's telling that the govt is calling for changes to copyright law to take copyright from an Aboriginal person (Thomas and the flag) but not to take it from a white person (the owner of the Namatjira copyrights) to give it back to Aboriginal people (Namatjira's family)

In addition, if the copyright of the Aboriginal flag is stolen by the Government and later courts decide that was the wrong decision Thomas and his family will have a huge claim and I hope they take the govt to the cleaners.

Maybe finally, the Namatjira case, combined with the governments reluctance to make fake Aboriginal art illegal, suggests to me that the Government don't care about Aboriginal Intellectual Property and cultural IP. Why would we trust them with the flag?

Also, another thing, Namatjira displayed agency with his copyrights, making good deals, leaving his copyrights to his family, he did all the right things. The Government fucked him.

Just like Harold Thomas.