Flag announcement: State Funeral Service - Ms Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM (1937 – 2022)

The Northern Territory Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet advises that a State Funeral Service for Ms Rosalie Kunoth-Monks will be held at 10:00 am on Thursday 3 March 2022, at the Desert Peoples Centre, Desert Knowledge Precinct, South Stuart Highway, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

An Anmatjere-Arrernte woman, Aboriginal activist, former actress and nun, Ms Kunoth-Monks contributed a lifetime of service to her community, the Barkly Region and for her people. As a teenager, Ms Kunoth-Monks was the first Aboriginal woman to play a leading role in the 1955 feature film Jedda. After ten years as a nun in the Melbourne Anglican Community, she left the order and worked in the Victorian and Northern Territory governments, establishing the first Aboriginal family group home in Victoria. In 1993 she was honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the Aboriginal community. In 2007 she received the Northern Territory Tribute to Women Award and in 2015, she was named the Northern Territory Australian of the Year and NAIDOC Person of the Year.

As a mark of mourning and respect, and in accordance with protocol, the Australian National Flag should be flown at half-mast all day on Thursday 3 March 2022 in the Northern Territory only from all buildings and establishments occupied by Australian Government departments and affiliated agencies. Other organisations are welcome to participate.

  • When flying the Australian National Flag with other flags, all flags in the set should be flown at half-mast.
  • If a set of flags includes the flags of other nations, it would be appropriate to seek permission from the diplomatic representatives of that nation to half-mast their flag.
  • An acceptable half-mast position would be when the top of the flag is a third of the distance down from the top of the flagpole.
  • Information on flag protocol is available at http://www.pmc.gov.au/flag.

Your assistance is appreciated.

Commonwealth Flag Officer