The flag - designed by the aboriginal artist Harold Thomas and first flown in 1971- was painted on the pavement in front of the Aborginal Tent Embassy, a collection of tents and indigenous symbols located in front of the Old Parliament House, Canberra. The embassy was established in Canberra on Australia Day 1972 in protest at a refusal by the Federal government to recognise Aboriginal land rights and has been rebuilt on various occasions. It has been in permanent existence at the present site since 1992. The flag received official status in 1995 and the Tent Embassy was registered on the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission in the same year.