Flying the Flag
Inverell Celebrates the End of WWI
Miss Zelma Coralie Futter, of Inverell, waved this Union Jack during the armistice celebrations in Sydney in November 1918, to celebrate the end of WWI. It was the British flag that Australian soldiers had marched under during the war, and it was British foreign policy that dictated the movement of Australian troops. So, the Australian flag was not in common usage until the 1954 Flag Act.
Zelma was a resident of Inverell and the daughter of the local bank manager and community figure, Frank Futter, and Gertrude Futter, who was an active fundraiser for the hospital and other charitable institutions. The Futters moved between city and country, spending time in Sydney, where the family eventually moved in 1924.
While Zelma was in Sydney waving this flag and joining the ecstatic crowds, things were just as joyful in Inverell. Mr Harry Buxton, the manager of a general store on the main street, mounted the verandah roof of his establishment and distributed ‘favours galore’: raining down flags, trumpets and a large quantity of sweets to the children of Inverell as part of the celebrations.
Bells, sirens and whistles sounded throughout Inverell and the Salvation Army band played patriotic songs, while an impromptu ‘tin can band’ marched down the main street to wild cheering and laughter. The crowd followed the Salvation Army band to the Town Hall, singing patriotic songs and waving flags like Zelma’s.
Zelma returned to Inverell after her marriage, where she continued to fly the flag for local causes. She received an Order of Australia in 1994 for service to the community, particularly through the Australian Red Cross. She died in 2000 at the age of 100, the flag she’d waved as a teenager is helping her story live on.
