Australia Day used to be an occasion on which there was much soul-searching about national identity and good for an airing about the Republic. This year, ARM launches a new branding as the “Australian Republic Movement” rather than the “Australian Republican Movement” no doubt to try and combat associations with the Republican now in the US White House. Along with this comes a new logo in traditional Republic(an) colours of green and gold featuring a rather phallic looking arrow, on a very low trajectory, hanging on to Tasmania for grim death. At least, the Southern Cross has been ditched. There was no suggestion that under this moniker, ARM has ditched its company structure behind the scenes or was attempting to act as an umbrella organisation for the various campaigning groups that make up the republic movement. ARM also launched a new TV ad that was overshadowed by the controversy over the 2017 Australia Day lamb ad, featuring a small group of Indigenous people having a barbeque on a deserted beach that filled with foreigners. It was meant to be funny and it was (and similar to what you would see on Black Comedy) but perhaps not so much for the First Peoples. To add to the noise, the “Change the Date” campaign seems to be taking off quickly and gaining acceptance in both theory and practice so no wonder the Republic didn’t get much of a look-in this year, or is Anzac Day shifting to Australia Day?
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
