The Docklands connection

By Monisha Iswaran

Last month’s south-eastern suburban billboard racism controversy had a Docklands connection.

A billboard at Cranbourne (below) advertising Australia Day activities featured two young Muslim girls wearing hijabs and waving Australian flags.

Negative and threatening comments about the imagery forced outdoor media company QMS to remove the advertisement well before Australia Day.

Docklands’ connection with the issue was that the photo of girls was taken here at last year’s Australia Day celebrations.

Reaction to the removal of the billboard resulted in a crowd sourcing campaign in an attempt to privately fund its reinstatement.

Australians in support of reinstating the billboard donated $100,000 within 12 hours to a GoFundMe website account with the aim of financing similar billboards in capital cities in time for Australia Day.

The original image of the two girls was still available for public download from the Victorian Government’s Australia Day website on the morning of January 19. However, by the end of the day, the image had been removed.

The State Government will not say why the photograph is no longer available.