What if you lived in Australia?

[trailmaster]

Here is a portion of the Southern sky constellations. You can see the constellation Crux(the southern cross) on the lower left of the photo. Living in the northern hemisphere I can't see any of these constellations, but the ones I can see IMHO are much better than the ones that people who live in the southern hemisphere see and mine are not upside down either!

[bloke57]

Originally Posted by trailmaster

[CENTER]Here is a portion of the Southern sky constellations. You can see the constellation Crux(the southern cross) on the lower left of the photo. Living in the northern hemisphere I can't see any of these constellations, but the ones I can see IMHO are much better than the ones that people who live in the southern hemisphere see and mine are not upside down either!

I'm just impressed Aussies live in a country where you can see the bloody sky!

[palo5]

Originally Posted by bloke57

I'm just impressed Aussies live in a country where you can see the bloody sky!

Well, they burned off the ozone layer. That helped

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by bloke57

I'm just impressed Aussies live in a country where you can see the bloody sky!

In Russia the sky is so clear,You can see the five points on the stars..

[BlueArsedFly]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

In Russia the sky is so clear,You can see the five points on the stars..

In Russia stars see you!

[Hertz]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

In Russia the sky is so clear,You can see the five points on the stars..

..and the Moon is in the form of a sickle

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by Hertz

..and the Moon is in the form of a sickle

Although the sickle seems a bit old, it has proven to be an effective pest control tool.

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by judy84

But I was wondering why have stars at all? Some flags have the sun as it is the most significant thing in the sky. But stars? I'm sure a lot of Aussies couldn't point out the Crux constellation in the sky. Is it that significant in Aussies' (or Kiwis) everyday life?

I think it is. It's on a lot of flags of countries in the Southern Hemisphere, including Brazil of course.

Revisiting this subject for the first time in a long time, here are a few Aust flags, in rough historical time order:







The blue cross was used by the pro-Federation push. The stripey ones are Murray River flags, or various interpretations because no original flag survives. The Red Ensign was the civil flag (i.e. for non-govt) until the mid-1950s, as well as being the Maritime flag (but not Navy). It was also commonly used as a Battle Flag in both world wars. Until the mid-50s the Union flag usually took precedence over the Blue Ensign.

Here are some examples of the coat of arms. Prior to 1912 it had various designs, mostly with the goal-kicking emu. Sometimes the kangaroo and emu would change places (I guess when nobody was looking). The rising sun was popular at Federation, and the motif can be seen on Federation-era houses.

When the current design was adopted in 1912 the Australian Cricket Board of Control (as I think it was called then) kept the previous design, and it is still the one on the Test cap. The old design was still being used on coins as late as the 1960s.







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZaYhbaydUc

[sandhunter]

Here's a couple more Aussie flags ,

First a true modern Australian flag

.
Next up is the French version of the Australian flag



And finally the famous boot flag , a true work of art
.

[palo5]