The Aboriginal Flag was designed by Harold Thomas, an artist and member of the Arrernte (Aranda) tribe of Central Australia in 1971. Black represents the Aboriginal people, red the earth and their spiritual relationship to the land, and the yellow disk is the sun, the giver of life. The Aboriginal flag was first raised in 1971, and adopted nationally in 1972 after it was flown above the Aboriginal ''Tent Embassy'' in Canberra. On 14 July 1995 the flag was officially recognised by the government.