September 3, 1901 was the first day the Australian flag was flown and is now celebrated as Australian National Flag Day. The Australian Flag was actually born out of a competition in the early 1900's. Anyone was able to participate and send in what they thought would be an appropriate flag for Australia. The government had a panel of expert judges look at each drawn flag to see which one would represent their country. The panel looked at: history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility, and cost and manufacture. There were well over 32,000 entries in the contest from men, women, and children alike.
The Australian Flag features the five stars of the constellation of the Southern Cross and the Commonwealth Star, and the combined crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick.
The union of crosses represents Australia's early settlers.
The Commonwealth star with its seven points represents the unity of the six Australian states and the seventh point stands for all Australian territories.
The stars of the Southern Cross stands for the geographic position in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Commonwealth star stands for the federation of states and territories.
The crosses represent the principles on which on Australia is based, namely, parliamentary democracy, rule of law and freedom of speech.
http://www.flagaustnat.asn.au/history.php
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