More Than a Flag
There are three flags on our website: the Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag and the Rainbow flag. Every now and then someone asks a perfectly fair question…
“Where’s the Australian flag?”
We’re glad people ask, so we thought we’d explain it properly.
What the flags mean to us
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are about reconciliation. They acknowledge that we live and work on Country that has meant everything to First Nations people for tens of thousands of years, and still does.
The Rainbow flag is our way of telling LGBTQIA+ people, including Brotherboys and Sistergirls, that they’re seen, welcome and valued in our care.
Our acknowledgement on the website puts it like this:
In the spirit of reconciliation, Rest Funerals & Death Care acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. From our hearts, we show our respects to Elders past, present and future, and to Mums and Dads, Aunties, Uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and family.
We don’t see the flags as a political statement. They’re more like love letters to communities who haven’t always felt seen or welcome, particularly by the funeral industry.
So why isn’t the Australian flag there?
Not having the Australian flag on our website isn’t a lack of love for Australia. We’re proud to live and work here, and we care a great deal about our community and the families we look after.
It’s really about what someone sees when they land on our website, often on one of the worst days of their life. When a private business puts up a national flag, for some people it can say something about nationalism or national identity, and that’s not the message we want to send. When someone comes to Rest after a death, the first thing we want them to know is that they belong here. Nobody should be left wondering whether their culture, family, identity, beliefs or background will make them any different in our care.
Loving Australia doesn’t need a flag
We don’t think loving Australia and including everyone are opposites. You can be proud of this country and still acknowledge its long and complicated history. You can love the Australian flag and still want LGBTQIA+ Australians to feel safe and welcome. You can be proud of where you live and recognise that not everyone has experienced this country the way you have.
Those things sit alongside each other just fine.
We’re here for everyone
We look after families from every background, culture and walk of life. Indigenous families, families that include people with disability, LGBTQIA+ families, families who are deeply religious and families who aren’t religious at all. Families who are fiercely patriotic, and families whose relationship with Australia and its history is a lot more complicated… every one of them matters to us.
We also hold close a principle the disability community has championed for a long time: “Nothing about us without us.” It’s a good principle for far more than disability. People should have a say in the things that affect their lives, their families and their communities.
To those who love the Australian flag
If the Australian flag makes you feel proud, warm or connected to this country, we think that’s a beautiful thing, and we mean that. Pride in Australia is real and it deserves respect.
All we ask is the same generosity in the other direction. Acknowledging First Nations people, welcoming LGBTQIA+ people, giving people with disability a real voice and making room for different cultures and beliefs… none of that takes anything away from Australia. If anything, it’s the Australia we want to live in.
More than a flag
A flag can stand for something important, but so can the way we treat the person standing in front of us. For us, being proud of this country isn’t something we need to prove with a flag on a website. It’s in how we show up for our neighbours, how we help a family through one of the hardest days of their lives, respecting Country, making room for difference and taking the time to listen. It’s in trying to leave our little corner of Australia a little kinder than we found it.
That’s the point. Everyone belongs here.