More Than a Flag
At Rest Funerals & Death Care, we display three flags on our website: the Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag and the Rainbow flag.
Every now and then, someone asks us a perfectly fair question:
“Where’s the Australian flag?”
We genuinely welcome the question. So we thought we’d explain it properly.
What the flags mean to us
Each flag we display carries a particular message.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags represent our commitment to reconciliation. They acknowledge that we walk on Country that holds profound meaning for First Nations peoples, whose connections to land, sea, community and culture stretch back tens of thousands of years.
The Rainbow flag is our way of saying to LGBTQIA+ people, including Brotherboys and Sistergirls, that they are seen, welcomed and valued in our care.
Our website acknowledgement puts it simply:
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.
These flags are not there to make a political statement.
For us, they are more like love letters to communities who have not always felt seen or welcomed.
So why isn’t the Australian flag there?
This is the part that can surprise people.
The absence of the Australian flag is not an absence of love for Australia.
Quite the opposite.
We are proud to live and work here. We care deeply about our communities, our neighbours and the people we serve.
For us, the decision is about what we want our website to communicate to someone who arrives here at a particularly difficult point in their life.
When a private organisation displays a national flag, it can carry meanings beyond simple love of country. For some people, it can feel like a statement about nationalism or national identity.
That isn’t the message we are trying to send.
When someone comes to Rest after a death, we want them to know one thing first:
You belong here.
We don’t want anyone wondering whether their culture, family, identity, beliefs or background will somehow make them different in our care.
Loving Australia doesn’t require a flag
We don’t think patriotism and inclusion are opposites.
You can love Australia and acknowledge that Australia has a long and complex history.
You can feel proud of this country and recognise the continuing connection of First Nations peoples to Country.
You can love the Australian flag and still want LGBTQIA+ Australians to feel safe and welcome.
You can be proud of where you live while recognising that some people have not always experienced this country in the same way you have.
For us, those things can sit alongside one another.
We’re here for everyone
We work with families from every background, culture, faith and walk of life.
Indigenous families.
Families that include people with disability.
LGBTQIA+ families.
Families who are deeply religious.
Families who aren’t religious at all.
Families who are fiercely and proudly patriotic.
Families who have complicated relationships with Australia, its institutions or its history.
Every one of them matters to us.
We also hold close a principle long championed by the disability community:
“Nothing about us without us.”
It is a good principle for much more than disability.
People should have a voice in the things that affect their lives, their families and their communities.
To those who love the Australian flag
If seeing the Australian flag makes you feel proud, warm or connected to this country, we think that is a beautiful thing.
We mean that.
Love of country is real. Pride in Australia is real. And those feelings deserve respect.
All we ask is that the same generosity is extended in the other direction.
Acknowledging First Nations peoples does not diminish Australia.
Making LGBTQIA+ people feel welcome does not diminish Australia.
Making sure people with disability have a genuine voice does not diminish Australia.
Making room for different cultures, families, beliefs and identities does not diminish Australia.
If anything, we think these things are part of the Australia we want to live in.
More than a flag
A flag can represent something important.
But so can the way we treat the person standing in front of us.
For us, patriotism is not something we need to prove with a flag on our website.
It is in the way we show up for our neighbours.
It is in helping a family through one of the worst days of their lives.
It is in respecting Country.
It is in making room for difference.
It is in listening.
It is in trying to leave our little corner of Australia a little kinder than we found it.
We are proud, genuinely and wholeheartedly proud, to serve Australians from all walks of life.
That is the point.
Everyone belongs here.