Harold Thomas

For other people named Harold Thomas, see Harold Thomas (disambiguation).

The Australian Aboriginal Flag as designed by Harold Thomas.

Harold Joseph Thomas (born c. 1947) is an Indigenous Australian descended from the Luritja people of Central Australia. An artist and land rights activist, he is best known for designing and copyrighting the Australian Aboriginal Flag.

Thomas designed the flag in 1971 as a symbol of the Indigenous land rights movement. In 1995 the flag was made an official "Flag of Australia". Later he was involved in a high-profile case in the Federal Court and the High Court, to assert copyright over his design.

2010 Dispute

In 2010 Thomas was involved in a dispute with Google over its intended use of an 11 year old Australian girl's artwork incorporating the Australian Aboriginal Flag into its logo. Thomas refused to allow Google to use the image featuring the flag after negotiations over compensation failed, resulting in a modified design in which the flag was not used. Thomas claimed that Google had opened negotiations with a request for free use of the flag and, while he allowed free use to non-commercial operations that gave health, educational, legal and other assistance to Indigenous people, he charged a fee to commercial operations. He described Google's subsequent offer as a "pittance".