National symbols are performing the role of representing the central ideas and values of a nation. National symbols are symbols of any entity considering itself and manifesting itself to the world as a national community.
National symbols include a national flag, a national anthem, a coat of arms. These symbols are often rallied around as part of celebrations of patriotism or aspiring nationalism (such as independence, autonomy or separation movements) and are designed to be inclusive and representative of all the peoples of the national community.
National symbols of Australia intend to unite people by creating visual, verbal, or iconic representations of the national people, values, goals, or history. The Savior (1410s, by Andrei Rublev) For other senses of this word, see icon (disambiguation). ... They denote positive attitudes by individuals to their own nation, to its national homeland, its culture, its members, and to its interests.
I. Australia’s foremost national symbol.
A national flag is a flag that symbolises a country. The flag is flown by the government, but usually can be flown by citizens of that country as well. Both public and private buildings such as schools and courthouses often fly the national flag.
The flag of Australia was chosen in 1901 from entries in a worldwide design competition held following Federation.
Before 1901, Australia was a collection of six British colonies. The Union Flag, as the flag of the British Empire, was often used to represent them collectively, and each colony also had its own flag based on the Union Flag. Two attempts were made throughout the nineteenth century to design a national flag. The first such attempt was the National Colonial Flag created in 1823–1824 by Captain John Nicholson and Captain John Bingle. The most popular "national" flag of the period was the 1831 Federation Flag, also designed by Nicholson. These flags, and many others such as the Eureka Flag (which came into use at the Eureka Stockade in 1854), featured stars representing the Southern Cross.
The oldest known flag to show the stars arranged as they are seen in the sky is the Anti-Transportation League Flag, which is similar in design to the present National Flag.
As Federation approached, thoughts turned to an official federal flag. In 1900, the Melbourne Herald conducted a design competition in which entries were required to include the Union Flag and Southern Cross, resulting in a British Ensign style flag. The competition conducted by the Review of Reviews for Australasia later that year thought such a restriction seemed unwise, despite observing that a design without these emblems were unlikely to be successful. After Federation on 1 January 1901, the new Commonwealth Government held an official competition for a new federal flag in April. The competition attracted over 32,000 entries. The designs were judged on seven criteria: loyalty to the Empire, Federation, history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility and cost of manufacture. The majority of designs incorporated the Union Flag and the Southern Cross, but native animals were also popular. Five almost identical entries were chosen as the winning design, and their designers shared the 200 pounds prize money. They were Ivor Evans, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy from Melbourne; Leslie John Hawkins, a teenager apprenticed to an optician from Sydney; Egbert John Nuttall, an architect from Melbourne; Annie Dorrington, an artist from Perth; and William Stevens, a ship's officer from Auckland, New Zealand. The five winners received 40 pounds each.
A simplified version of the competition-winning design was officially approved as the Flag of Australia by King Edward VII in 1902.
It replaced the Union Flag at the Olympic Games at St Louis in 1904. In the same year, due to lobbying by Senator Richard Crouch, it had the same status as the Union Flag in the UK, when the House of Representatives proclaimed that the Blue Ensign "should be flown upon all forts, vessels, saluting places and public buildings of the Commonwealth upon all occasions when flags are used". The government agreed to fly the Blue Ensign on special flag days, but not if it meant additional expense, which undermined the motion. The Blue Ensign could only be flown on a state government building if a state flag was not available
The current specifications were published in 1934, and in 1954 the flag became legally recognised as the "Australian National Flag" in the Flags Act 1953.
The Australian flag uses three prominent symbols, the Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack), the Commonwealth Star (also the federation star) and the Southern Cross.
The Union Flag is thought locally to symbolise Australia's history as six British colonies and the principles upon which the Australian Federation is based, although a more historic view sees its inclusion in the design as demonstrating loyalty to the British Empire.
The Commonwealth Star originally had only six points, representing the six federating colonies. However, this changed in 1908 when a seventh point was added to symbolise the Territory of Papua and any future territories. The Commonwealth Star does not have any relation to Beta Centauri, despite that star's coincidental location in the sky and its brightness.
The Southern Cross is one of the most distinctive constellations visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and has been used to represent Australia since the early days of British settlement. Ivor Evans, one of the flag's designers, intended the Southern Cross to refer also to the four moral virtues ascribed to the four main stars by Dante: justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude. The number of points on the stars of the Southern Cross on today's Australian flag differs from the original competition-winning design, on which they ranged between five and nine points each, representing their relative brightness in the night sky. In order to simplify manufacture, the British Admiralty standardised the four larger outer stars at seven points each, leaving the smaller middle star with five points.
In addition there are other official flags representing Australia, its people and core functions of government.
The Australian National Flag is Australia’s foremost national symbol. It has become an expression of Australian identity and pride.
II. "Advance Australia Fair"
A national anthem (also "national hymn", "song" etc.) is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.
"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia.
Advance Australia Fair was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick under the pen-name 'Amicus' (which means 'friend' in Latin), in the late 19th century, and first performed by Andrew Fairfax at a Highland Society function in Sydney on 30 November 1878. The song quickly gained popularity and an amended version was sung by a choir of 10,000 at the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. In 1907 the Australian Government awarded McCormick £100 for his composition.
Before its adoption as Australia's national anthem, Advance Australia Fair saw considerable use elsewhere. For example, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, used it to announce its news bulletins until 1952. It was also frequently played at the start or end of official functions.
In 1951 there was a competition for a new national anthem to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Federation of Australia. The entry by the Austrian-born conductor Henry Krips, This Land of Mine, won the competition, but it was decided to make no change to the status quo.
In 1973 the Whitlam government decided that the country needed an anthem that could represent Australia with "distinction" and started a competition to find one. The Australia Council for the Arts organised the contest, which was dubbed the Australian National Anthem Quest. The contest was held in two stages, the first seeking lyrics and the second music, each having an AUD $5,000 prize for the winning entry. On the recommendation of the Council for the Arts, none of the new entries were felt worthy enough, so the contest ended with the suggestions for Advance Australia Fair, Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia.
Advance Australia Fair emerged as the most popular choice for the national anthem after an opinion poll in 1974 (the Australian Bureau of Statistics polled 60,000 people nationally). A spokesman for the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam stated that the Government regarded the tune primarily as the national anthem.
At the same time as the 1977 referendum, a national plebiscite was held to choose the National Song. Advance Australia Fair received 43.29% of the vote, defeating the three alternatives: Waltzing Matilda (28.28%), Song of Australia (9.65%), and the existing national anthem God Save the Queen (18.78%).
Advance Australia Fair was adopted as the national anthem (the 1st and 3rd verses, with modified lyrics) on 19 April 1984 by a decision of the Labor government of Bob Hawke and a proclamation by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen.
Both the lyrics and melody of the official anthem have been criticised in some quarters as being dull and unendearing to the Australian people. National Party Senator Sandy Macdonald said in 2001 that Advance Australia Fair is so boring that the nation risks singing itself to sleep, with boring music and words impossible to understand. His Parliamentary colleague Peter Slipper thought Australia should consider another anthem.
Australian Labor Party politician Craig Emerson took aim at the famously archaic word "girt" in the lyrics: "Our home is girt by sea. This must rank as one of the worst lines of any national anthem. That Australia is an island should be pretty obvious, but is our anthem girt by a sea of mediocrity?" However, the Labor leader, Kim Beazley argued "Well, look. I stand up on behalf of girt. Girt by sea needs to be celebrated and if we can't do that regularly when Australia enjoys its sporting triumphs, at the beginning of our school assemblies and I think something would be lost that is new and decent and essential to the Australian character."
The Australian National Anthem identifies Australia at home and overseas. It unites the nation and is a public expression of joy and pride in being Australian.
The Australian National Anthem is used at important public ceremonies, sporting and community events.
III. The coat of arms of Australia
A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people) and used by them in a wide variety of ways. Historically, they were used by knights to identify them apart from enemy soldiers. In Continental Europe commoners were able to adopt Burgher arms. Unlike seals and emblems, coats of arms have a formal description that is expressed as a blazon.
The first official coat of arms of Australia was granted by King Edward VII on 7 May 1908. The original design is thought to have been inspired by the 1805 Bowman Flag, which showed a coat of arms of the rose, shamrock and thistle supported by a kangaroo and emu.
The 1908 arms were redesigned in 1911, and officially granted by George V on 19 September 1912. The redesign of the coat of arms spurred much debate in the Parliament, William Kelly said
"The emu and kangaroo are so built that they hardly fit into the heraldic atmosphere, and I think we make ourselves ridiculous when we endeavour to carry on the traditions of the Old World with some of the wild creations of our Australian fauna."
Despite objections, the kangaroo and emu remained the shield bearers in the new coat of arms and were modified to appear more realistic. The principal reason for the redesign was to address concerns that Australia's states were not individually represented; this was achieved by showing each state's badge on the shield. The 1912 coat of arms removed the bed of grass that was beneath the shield and changed the scroll to read simply "Australia". The colours in the wreath were also changed from blue and white to blue and gold. A background of two sprays of Golden Wattle was added, however it does not form a part of the armorial bearings.
The shield is the focal point of the coat of arms, contained within is the badge of each Australian state. New South Wales is the Cross of St George with lion and stars. Victoria is an Imperial Crown and Southern Cross. Queensland is a blue Maltese Cross and Crown. South Australia is the Australian piping shrike. Western Australia is a black swan. Tasmania is a red walking lion
Above the shield is the seven-pointed 'Commonwealth Star' or 'Star of Federation' above a blue and gold wreath, forming the crest. Six of the points on the star represent the original six states, while the seventh point represents the combined territories and any future states of Australia. In its entirety the shield represents the federation of Australia.
The Red Kangaroo and Emu that support the shield are the unofficial animal emblems of the nation. They owe this recognition not only to the fact that they are native Australian, (found only on that continent) but also because these animals can not move backward, only forward – i.e. progress. In the background is wreath of Golden Wattle, the official national floral emblem, though the representation of the species is not botanically accurate. At the bottom of the coat of arms is a scroll that contains the name of the nation. Neither the wreath of wattle nor the scroll are technically part of the official design described on the Royal Warrant that grants the armorial design.
The coat of arms is used to identify Australian government authority and property, accordingly the coat of arms should never be used where it could wrongly imply a formal guarantee, sponsorship or endorsement by the Commonwealth.
A national emblem symbolically represents a nation. They may appear on many things such as the national flag, coat of arms, or other patriotic materials. One should not confuse a formal national emblem with less formal symbols potentially associated with tourism or clichés, for example windmills in the Netherlands.
The story of Australia’s symbols is rich and colourful. Australian national symbols represent what is unique about the nation, reflecting different aspects of our cultural life and history.
Among its best-loved symbols are the featuring the stars of the Southern Cross, the Union Jack and Commonwealth or Federation Star; the floral emblem, the fragrant golden wattle; the celebratory national colours are green and gold and the vibrant gemstone, the Australian opal. The Australian National Anthem is also one of our most important national symbols.
Australian national symbols are often rallied around as part of celebrations of patriotism or aspiring nationalism (such as independence, autonomy or separation movements) and are designed to be inclusive and representative of all the peoples of the national community.
Bibliography
- The World Book Encyclopedia. – V.1
- en.wikipedia.org
- www.vokrugsveta.ru
- eng.history.ru