Gabriel Ellison, was a woman best known for assisting in designing the national flag of Zambia which was adopted in 1964, and for designing most of Zambia’s colourful postage stamps from the 1960s to 1980s, depicting wildlife, historical events and culture.
She died in Johannesburg on the 18th of July at the age of 87.
Mrs Gabriel Ellison’s work spanned six decades as a graphic design artist, painter and writer whose considerable contribution to Zambia helped to establish the country’s national identity and heritage.
Her work and contribution to the arts earned her the honour of Grand Officer of Distinguished Service from the government and also an MBE from the Queen of England.
As head of the Graphic Arts section of the Zambian Ministry of Information she designed banking and railway insignia, emblems, coins, honours and awards but most famously the national Coat of Arms.
Ellison also designed the 107 cm long mace from ivory, copper and amethyst, the symbol of parliamentary authority in the National Assembly.
From 1960 to 1972 Ellison headed the Visual Art and Exhibitions Section and travelled around the world to international trade fairs and exhibitions with senior exhibitions officer, Ron Found and his assistant, Damien Kachidza.
Their work won them a number of awards, including two gold medals in Leipzig.
As an author, Ellison’s work has been published widely. She has written and illustrated a number of children’s books and authored novels as well as non-fiction works.
She has illustrated numerous guide books, including the Wildlife Society’s publications A Guide to Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes of Zambia (1993), Common Birds of Zambia (1990) and A Guide to Common Wild Mammals of Zambia (1991).
Born Gabriel Ryan in Lusaka in 1930, her parents had settled in then Northern Rhodesia where they joined the provincial administration, after escaping from Mexico on a donkey!
She attended school in both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, but there was little art education so after school the young Gabriel took up private studies in Britain.
She married Tony Ellison, a policeman in the colonial administration in Lusaka, and attributed much of her achievement to his unwavering support.
Inspired by rural Zambia, and in particular her childhood among the Ila in Namwala, Gabriel’s art recorded momentous milestones in history as well as the normal day to day life of Zambia and its astounding wildlife.
She worked mainly with oils, acrylics, watercolours, tempera and in three dimension form.
Zambia has a brightly coloured flag full of meaning and symbolism.
The dominant green background symbolises the country's rich vegetation and agricultural wealth. The red stripe is a memorial of the struggle and blood shed in the fight for the country's liberation from colonial
The black stripe is symbolic of the original people of the land
The bright orange is a symbol of Zambia's wealth in copper - the country's number 1 income generator
The orange African fish eagle floating above the stripes is a symbol of the freedom of the people, as well as a representation of the people's ability to rise above whatever challenges that they may face as a nation
The Zambian flag, by law, can only be flown between sunrise and sunset, and on government-approved vessels and institutions.
Before Zambia was even a part of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland territory, the British South Africa Company flew it's flag in the country:
After the BSA Company relinquished control of the then called Northern Rhodesia, the flags used between 1939 and 1963 were a defaced British blue ensign. Many British colonies and territories had their flags based on it.
In 1996 the Zambian flag was slightly modified when the green colour from the flag was lightened.
Source- Lusaka Times & flagmakers
*18 July 2017
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Shortly before he was detained sometime in 1980/81, Frederick Chiluba, Zambia's most prominent labor leader, sought increased contacts with Western diplomats and invited them to compare his movement to the Solidarity union in Poland.
The message, one of the Western envoys said, was clear: Mr. Chiluba, the chairman of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, was presenting himself as an alternative to President Kenneth D. Kaunda and his United National Independence Party, the country's only lawful political group.
Zambian President’s Son Sentenced to Death for Killing Woman
Thread
14 October 1991. The youngest son of President Kenneth Kaunda was sentenced to death for killing a woman in September 1989. President Kaunda could not issue a pardon unless he won that month’s toughly contested presidential election.
Kambarage Kaunda, 27, stared impassively behind dark glasses at the judge who sentenced him to death by hanging.
Next, Zambia Airways acquired a DC-8-71. The plane actually belonged to the government, but in order to keep it active and for easy maintenance, it was added to the fleet.
Zambia Airways then placed an order for an MD-11 as well as for a Boeing 757 freighter.
Zambia Airways was the first airline in the world to operate the 757 freighter. With 2,150 employees there was concern that the airline was overmanned with only 300,000 passengers and a fleet of 2 ATR42-320s, 2 Boeing 737s, 1 Boeing 757 freighter, 1 DC-8-61 and 1 DC-10-30.
From the leftovers of the central African Airways Corporation came a new airline Zambia Airways. Its fleet consisted of 2 x BAC-1-11, 2 HS748s and 2 very old DC-3s.
As usual with the division of assets during the Federation Zambia got the short end of the stick. Just like the Air Force which ended up in Rhodesia despite being bought using Zambian money, the airline's main assets ended up in Rhodesia.
For 3 and a half decades Zambia had a national airline. It trained a highly skilled workforce and it connected Zambia to the world. It, however, was also a political football.
Its strong unions, even the pilots were unionized, its well-educated workforce, its elite position in the Zambian political conscious and the access it provided to certain things, meant it had strong vested interests.
Interests who took positions for their own benefit to the detriment of the airline. For instance, its highly educated workforce, sometimes used their education and intelligence for selfish ends.
AS A way of compelling the British government to end the unpopular Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) embarked on a campaign dubbed Cha Cha Cha meant to make the then Northern Rhodesia ungovernable.
Initially, there was a war cabinet which was constituted to oversee the whole operation. Its members were Lewis Changufu as leader, first independence Minister of Finance Arthur Wina and an Irish party member, a Mr Edmund.