[Blog Post] Aboriginal Flag Information

The Australian Aboriginal flag represents Indigenous Australians. It was originally designed in 1971 by Harold Thomas who is descended from the Luritja people of Central Australia and holds intellectual property rights to the flag's design. According to Mr Thomas, the black in the flag represents the Aboriginal people, the red the earth and their spiritual relationship to the land, and the golden yellow represents the sun, the giver of life. The Aboriginal flag was originally designed for the land rights movement and has since became a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia.

It's important to note that authentic Aboriginal flag merchandise must be licensed by Harold Thomas (with royalties paid to Mr Thomas) and we are proud to say all Aboriginal flag t-shirts, other clothing and gifts in our store are 100% authentic licensed products. Many online stores located outside of Australia are offering bootleg Aboriginal Flag products and these should be avoided by consumers.

We here at Australian Native T-Shirts have been instrumental in bringing new Aboriginal flag t-shirt designs to market, please view our entire range here.

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[Blog Post] New Release! Australian Native T-Shirts Own Brand of Products

Meet our new in-house range of Aussie t-shirts with the release of Australian Native T-Shirts own brand of Australiana!

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[Blog Post] Tie Dye T-Shirts in Australia - Spotlight on The Mountain T-Shirts

A look at The Mountain Tie Dye T-Shirt logo changes and a view of the 2018 Collection from brand. We are your source of The Mountain tie dye t-shirts in Australia since 2004.

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[Blog Post] Lest We Forget - Donate to the Australian War Memorial

The family here at Australian Native T-Shirts hold the Australian War Memorial close to our hearts. With a Grandfather who served in World War I on one side of the family and a Grandfather who served in World War II on the other, the AWM is a moving place to visit when in Canberra and we always make time to visit every trip.

We have offer a range of Lest We Forget t-shirts and other products in our online store and from those will donate $1 from every Lest We Forget item sold to the Australian War Memorial. Below is the receipt from our first donation in March 2018, our second in April 2018 and our third in August 2018, with donations following in October 2018, February 2019, April 2019 and September 2019. We grouped many orders together and made a larger donation via the AWM website on 28th January 2021. In May 2023, a $200.00 donation was made to the AWM.

 

 

 

We encourage everyone to visit the Australian War Memorial when in Canberra, it is located at: 

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[Blog Post] Commonwealth Games comes to the Gold Coast in 2018!

In early April 2018 we have the Commonwealth Games taking place on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. An exciting time for us Aussies who love our sport, we're hoping being the home team will see us win even more Gold than usual!

The main venue is Carrara Stadium and the official motto of the games is "Share The Dream". The opening ceremony takes place on 4th of April 2018 and the games end on 15th of April 2018. The Commonwealth Games mascot (pictured above) is Borobi the koala, who was officially named as the mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2016. Borobi is a blue koala, with indigenous markings on its body. The term "borobi" is an Aboriginal term for koala.

 We're excited to see the Commonwealth Games return to Australia and wish all athletes success!

We have a number of t-shirts in store you can wear to the games to show your support for Team Australia - check them out in our Aussie t-shirts section here.

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[Blog Post] Red Poppies for Remembrance Day

Red poppies were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battle fields of Northern France and Belgium, the sight of poppies on the battlefield at Ypres in 1915 moved Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to write the poem "In Flanders fields" - recited below.

In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

The Red Poppy has become a symbol of Remembrance, worn on Armistice Day and also ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. Red Poppies also adorn the Roll of Honour at The War Memorial in Canberra. For detailed information from The Australian War Memorial, visit their page here.

We are proud to offer Red Poppy products in our online store for the centenary of Armistice Day in 2018 and also for ANZAC Day events.

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[Blog Post] In Memoriam Marilyn Carroll (Aunty Mal to us)

On the 1st of December 2017, our family lost someone very special to us. Our Mother's close friend of over 50 years and surrogate Aunt to my Sister Donna and I, we called her Aunty Mal.

Never a fan of her given name Marilyn, those close to her always called her Mal. She grew up on the Northern Beaches of NSW just like our Mum and they met when they were young adults. It was a friendship that would last their entire lives, regardless of distance, no matter what was happening in their individual lives. They were always there for each other when times were tough.

 Aunty Mal lived in various places throughout the years.. from the Central Coast of NSW and Bidwill in the Western Suburbs of Sydney when her kids were young, to Dalton in NSW (the earthquake capital of Australia), to iluka on the North Coast of NSW. Our family visited and occasionally stayed with her in each of these places and a couple of times in her life, Aunty Mal even lived with us. Most notoriously in a caravan out the front during my teen years. Mal was not related by blood but she was closer to us kids than any of our Mum's siblings.

Knowing Mal is a lesson in true friendship. At the toughest times in our lives, she was there for us. Anytime something big was happening, she would drop whatever she was doing and come to us and we appreciated it more than she will ever know. Our Mum Emily meant the world to Aunty Mal and she meant the world to our Mum too. They may not speak for months at a time but when they did catch up, nothing had changed between them. It was like they had spoken the day before.

When we lost our Mum in April to a stroke, Aunty Mal was living in a nursing home on the Central Coast and her health was not so great. Mum had seen Aunty Mal last in 2016 when we took her up for Mal's 70th Birthday party in October - at the time Mum had been on oxygen for several years and Mal had also been put on oxygen. By April, Mal was no longer able to travel any real distance and she was heartbroken not to be able to come be with us at this time, but we understood, we knew losing Mum would have been heartbreaking for her as well. We know in the months that followed she missed Mum every day.

We visited with Aunty Mal during those following months and talked about old times when she lived with us and about various times we visited her in the different places we lived. Really, she felt like our closest connection to Mum and we really treasure those times.

In mid November Aunty Mal phoned and let us know the she had cancer. She explained they couldn't even really give her any kind of life expectancy as it was aggressive. We visited her on the 19th of November for what turned out to be the last time we would see her, it was a special visit, we think she knew it would be the last time she saw us. She said she would be happy to see our Mum again and had come to terms with the fact that she is dying.

None of us truly know what happens after we die but we choose to believe they are together again. Thank you for being such a special part of our lives Aunty Mal, Rest in Peace and give Mum a big hug for us xx

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[Blog Post] Store Newsletter for October 2017

Limited Edition Hoodie Offer and New Products in Store

First-off - we have a time-limited offer on a special print run of our famous DJ Jahman Rasta Lion hoodie (see design above), normally printed on khaki green, this print will be done on deep red. We are taking orders until the 10th of October (this Tuesday) for this limited run on an alternate colour.

Any hoodies sold will be included in this limited run and will be ready to dispatch from Sydney on 27th of October - click here to order a limited edition hoodie.

New Products! We have just finished adding The Mountain "Fall Release" to our store. Included are new hoodies, longsleeve t-shirts, baby onesies and ladies fitted tees in classic and popular designs. To view all new items in this range, click here.

Remember - we now have AMEX, Afterpay, Bank Deposit, VISA, Mastercard and Pay Pal available in our store. In October we are offering free delivery Australia wide on orders over $150 (via regular post).

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[Blog Post] Random Australian Trivia

• There are only two egg-laying mammals in the world, both of which come from Australia – The echidna, or spiny anteater, and the platypus.
• A kangaroo’s tail does not touch the ground when it is hopping at speed. The animal only uses the tail to balance its jumping efforts, and to rear upon when stopped.
• The first flight across the Pacific Ocean was made by Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, from Oakland in California to Brisbane, Australia in 1928.
• 95% of the world’s opal are dug up in Australia, and also the biggest opals outright. (The record holder being 6.8 kg!)
• The first around-the-world passenger service by an airline was started by Qantas, in 1958.
• Qantas stands for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
• Qantas is the world’s second oldest airline, (est 1920) with only KLM being older.
• Australia took on its unification of the six British colonies in 1901, when a single Australia-wide government was formed.
• Australia is one of the most governed countries on earth, with one politician for every 20,000 Aussies. The British have one politician for every 45,000 people.
• Australia’s National Anthem was “God Save The Queen”, up until 1984, where upon it was changed to “Advance Australia Fair”. This was due to a referendum in 1977. It took that long to get a non militaristic and politically correct version out. (The original second verse was cut completely)
• On the 7th of March, 1856, workers in Sydney belonging to the Stonemason’s Society were the first workers in the world to gain an eight hour working day. (reduced from ten hours)  This is celebrated in Australia by the holiday, “Labour Day”.
• The first pension for women in the world was brought in by the New South Wales government in 1926.
• The first ‘secret ballot’ system for parliament in the world was introduced in the Legislative Council of Victoria, Australia, on 27-8-1856. The rest of the world took another few decades.
• The preferential voting system was first introduced into the world in Queensland, in 1892.
• The Utility, or as it’s called in Australia the ‘ute’, was invented in Australia by Ford in 1932. The legend has it that it that a farmer came to Ford, looking for a car that could “work on the farm all week, and then take the wife to church on Sundays.”

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