Campaign plans to put up dozens of billboards across capital cities with surplus funding going to Indigenous organisations

A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $130,000 to get a photograph of two young girls wearing hijabs at an Australia Day event on billboards across the country, and surplus funds will now go to Indigenous organisations.

Last week the photograph of the two girls – taken at the Docklands celebration last year – was removed from a Melbourne freeway billboard after the billboard company allegedly received threats. The image of the two young girls – one of a series of photographs advertising a nearby Australia Day event – had been posted to a far right group’s social media page and prompted hundreds of bigoted comments and complaints, many directed at the girls.

In response, a crowdfunding campaign by the Campaign Edge advertising agency called for the girls’ photograph to be reprinted on posters and in an Australia Day campaign. After more than $120,000 was donated in 24 hours, the campaign expanded, proposing to erect dozens of billboards across Australian capital cities.

Australia Day billboard featuring girls in hijabs removed after threats Read more

Dee Madigan, the creative director at Campaign Edge, said she started the fund because she “felt like the bastards were winning” when the photo was taken down.

“There was a haul of photos of a lot of people from different ethnicities but the one they pick on is the two Australian Muslim girls,” she said. “And these are the same people who complain that Muslims don’t assimilate.

“It’s just not OK and it feels lately like there’s been – with Hanson and even Trump – more permission for people to be more overtly racist. This was just sort of a chance to fight back at that, because I think a lot of these racist groups think there’s a lot of them out there, that they’re the silent majority.

“I guess this was a way for ordinary people to say, ‘No you’re not.’”

Madigan said she thought the fund might raise about $20,000 over a few days, enough to pay for one billboard, but the response grew, reaching a donation rate of about $100 a minute.

“This is a great initiative that must be fully supported because it reflects the true Australian spirit,’ wrote the United Muslims of Australia organisation with their donation.

Madigan said donations came from Muslim and Jewish organisations, unions and politicians but most were small contributions from individuals.

The girls and their family were aware of the campaign and supported it, lawyer and community rights advocate Mariam Veiszadeh told Guardian Australia on Wednesday.

The campaign originally had a target of $20,000, with any leftover funds going to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

That target has since been increased to $200,000 and the proposed reach of the campaign widened, and the extra funds will be redirected to Indigenous groups.

After discussions with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the money would now go to the Indigenous independent media platform IndigenousX and non-profit organisation Children’s Ground, she said.

In an update on Thursday, the GoFundMe page said Victorian digital and print billboards in Preston, Collingwood, Springvale, Endeavour Hills and Yarraville would start going up from Friday through to Australia Day.

Australia Day is a contentious event, with calls to change the date and stop celebrating a day that marks white settlement and violence against and murder and dispossession of Indigenous people.

The support for the billboard campaign had drawn scepticism.

Aamer Rahman, one half of comedy duo In Fear of a Brown Planet, described it as a “novel and expensive way of throwing Aboriginal people under the bus”.

Janette Milera (@OriginalAussie) #Aboriginal Services are crying out for help for our people. #Australia raise $100,00.00 to put up a billboard for #InvasionDay #GoFigure pic.twitter.com/IkLAwMrNh1

Aamer Rahman (@aamer_rahman) Here's what I think about this Muslim Australia Day billboard campaign: pic.twitter.com/RwILsc44bC

Terri Butler, a Queensland Labor MP, told Guardian Australia she was happy to donate after making her own inquiries about how to get the picture returned to the billboard and was heartened by the community response.

“It was a great shame that the billboard was taken down in the first place,” she said. “It’s a great picture of two girls celebrating our national day. The lead up to Australia Day is a great time to think about what it means to be Aussie. Our multiculturalism is a defining part of our national identity. When I imagine the Australian community I see colour and diversity, not dull uniformity.”

The federal immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told 3AW on Thursday: “If you want billboards to depict Australian society, or the multicultural nature of our society, I suppose you want different faces from different backgrounds and different cultures up there.

“I’m not sure whether this was some political statement or what the motivation was otherwise but I think it’s great we’ve got young girls, young boys from whatever background who are embracing Australian values, flying the Australian flag, proud to be Australian, proud to be part of our society and want to be part of a peaceful future in this country. They are all the values that all of us embrace.”

Dutton was not asked about and did not comment on the alleged threats levelled against the billboard company by far right groups.

Asked if the campaign fund said more about Australia than the push to get the billboard taken down, Dutton said it was more about the power of social media to raise funds for causes.