United in Celebration?
While Newcombe struggled to find a consensus on the NADC board, his successor Phillip Adams had a clear agenda and was more provocative. One of his first actions as Chairman was to redesign the Australia Day logo, which created a mini controversy because the Australian flag was removed in the process.44 The new logo featured a hand reaching for a star and was symbolic of Adams’ aspirational approach to nation building. There was a strong sense of the type of nationalism the NADC was trying to promote under Phillip Adams: it was multicultural, reconciled with the Aborigines and tolerant. The republic was not mentioned specifically, but it was clearly on the agenda. Adams lobbied for the NADC to take on responsibility for the Centenary of Federation celebrations; he hoped that on 1 January 2001 Australia would become a republic and New Year’s Day would replace 26 January as the focal point for national celebration.45 Under Phillip Adams the NADC chose an Aboriginal singer, an environmentalist (who was also an ‘avowed republican’),46 a leading Australian artist and a Chinese-Australian paediatrician. The winners of the Australian of the Year award thus reflected the politics of the time.