But as Australia’s indigenous peoples still struggle to overcome more than 200 years of colonization, with a population that is grossly overrepresented in prisons, and that has drastically poorer health and a lower life expectancy than the rest of Australia, does an emoji even matter?
Other issues seem much more important; the leaders who gathered in Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, are fighting for an Aboriginal representative body to be enshrined in the Constitution, for example.
But representation in all forms is important for indigenous Australians, who have been pressing their case on many federal, state and local fronts for decades.
Dr. Bronwyn Carlson, an associate professor of indigenous studies at the University of Wollongong, in New South Wales, says the inclusion of the flags is a significant move by Twitter.
“It means this corporate giant is taking notice of a small population of people, and also acknowledging that these people have something to say,” she said.
Social media, particularly Twitter, is a democratic and accessible space for indigenous Australians. For those who are fighting for broader recognition, it’s a way to sidestep gatekeepers who may not respect or amplify their voices.
“Mainstream media generally ignores us,” said Dr. Carlson, an indigenous Australian. “But with Twitter, we have our own space, where we can continually raise our own stories and particularly talk about things that are important to us,” she said.
Mr. Pearson, who is also an indigenous Australian, and who set up IndigenousX, a Twitter account with rotating indigenous hosts, compares the flag icon to the recent addition of skin tones for some emoji.
“I think this is comparable, in the same way that all those flags are there for people to show pride in their flags,” he said, “and there wasn’t one for us.”
Twitter has been aware of calls for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag emoji for years, but adding one little emoji is trickier than it might seem.
Harold Thomas, the indigenous activist who created the Aboriginal flag in 1971, still holds the copyright to the design. Mr. Thomas ended up in a dispute with Google in 2010 when he refused to allow the technology company to reproduce the flag on its home page.
After months of back and forth with Twitter, Mr. Thomas granted the social media company permission to create the emoji, in time for the anniversary of the referendum.
In an interview, Mr. Thomas said the flag expressed both the future of the Aboriginal people and their past, which goes back more than 40,000 years.
“The Aboriginal flag is central to our national identity,” Mr. Thomas said. “We are the first people here, for a very long time, and we’ll stay here until eternity.”
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