Southern Cross
The Southern Cross is thought to represent Australia's position in the Southern Hemisphere (see Southern Cross Flag). It has been used as a symbol of Australia since in the 1820's when there were crown colonies of the British Empire in Australia. The National Colonial Flag for Australia was the first such concept to depict the Southern Cross.
Some claim that the Southern Cross is not explicitly Australian but could represent any nation at all in the southern hemisphere. As well as the Australian flag, it also already appears on the flags of Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: Australian Flag Debate
Famous quotes containing the words southern and/or cross:
“I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)
“You might say that Lyndon Johnson is a cross between a Baptist preacher and a cowboy.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)