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Elderly Couple Planning To 'Fight To The End' After Being Told To Take Down Australian Flag

Elderly Couple Planning To 'Fight To The End' After Being Told To Take Down Australian Flag

Julie and Vaughan were told their act of patriotism was an 'eyesore' and are willing to go to jail to keep it flying.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Flying an Australian flag is one of the more patriotic things you can do in our sun blessed country.

However, an elderly couple living on the Sunshine Coast have been shocked to discover their neighbours aren't a fan of their visible patriotism.

Julie and Vaughan McLeod have been flying their Aussie flag outside their unit since the 1990s.

There hasn't been a single issue in all those years, however one person living in their building has complained that it's an 'eyesore'. The body corporate has got involved and has ordered the couple to take it down.

7News

The authority said Julie and Vaughan didn't get approval for the flag, despite them claiming they got permission from the original body corporate when they moved from Central Queensland. Sadly, they don't have any written permission to confirm that.

"We are quite willing to do an affidavit, swear on the Bible that we have had permission," Mr McLeod told A Current Affair. "The fact the paperwork is lost, is not down to us at all."

They're now devastated at being told to remove a piece of patriotism.

Mr Vaughan told Sunrise: "I see the flag as part of my culture, I served in the Air Force under that flag and anything that seems disrespectful to the flag causes me anxiety."

His wife Julie added: "I can't understand it myself, because it's out the back, they can hardly see it from their units and it's been here for 24 years and all of a sudden they don't like it.

"It's not coming down, it's staying, so there will be a fight until the end."

Channel 9

She explained that people have 'died' for that flag and finds it a disgrace that she would have to pull it down.

The Queenslander also said the flag was a 'symbol of our country and our culture' and won't be going down without a fight.

"It's staying there. People have come and gone and died for that flag and it's not coming down," homeowner Julie McLeod explained to Channel 9.

"Eyesore, I couldn't get over that word. It's an eyesore. That's what they put on the form. How could you call that an eyesore," Mrs McLeod said.

"I'll just go to jail because I'm not going to be paying a fine and I'm not going to take the flag down."

Featured Image Credit: 7News

Topics: Australia