Flag of Australia Raised in Recognition of Australia Day

Posted January 26, 2021

The flag of Australia was raised at the community flagpole located in the Main Street roundabout, for the day, in recognition of Australia Day.

Statement from Mayor Tom Tarpey:

“Happy Australia Day or as we more commonly refer to it in Canada — Wayne Gretzky Day. Nonetheless, we are taking a bit of time to celebrate the heritage of our residents who immigrated from Australia to set up home in Peace River with a bit of a nod of former Peace Riverities who have emigrated to Australia.

On our roundabout coming into downtown Peace River you should see the Australian Flag. The flag has the Union Jack in the upper right-hand corner and harkens back to when Captain James Cook literally ran into Australia narrowly avoiding shipwrecking on the Great Barrier Reef with his ship the HMS Endeavour.

Underneath the Union Jack, is the Commonwealth Star which has seven points. The seven points represent the six Australian states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia with the seventh point for Australia’s territories. There are three internal territories (the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory and the Northern Territory), and seven external territories (Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Coral Sea Islands.

The cluster of stars on the right-hand side of the Australian Flag represent the Southern Cross, a key constellation in the southern hemisphere, analogous to navigation as the Northern Star in our hemisphere.

If you are looking for more information on Australia, Wikipedia is a good start —  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia

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