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Australia, island continent located southeast of Asia and forming, with the nearby island of Tasmania, the Commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The continent is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Torres Strait; on the east by the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea; on the south by the Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Indian Ocean. The commonwealth extends for about 4000 km (about 2500 mi) from east to west and for about 3700 km (about 2300 mi) from north to south. Its coastline measures some 25,760 km (about 16,010 mi). The area of the commonwealth is 7,682,300 sq km (2,966,200 sq mi), and the area of the continent alone is 7,614,500 sq km (2,939,974 sq mi), making Australia the smallest continent in the world, but the sixth largest country.
The Southern Cross is a constellation which only appears in the night skies of the Southern hemisphere and has long been a symbol of Australia. It was commonly seen featured on many of the early unofficial flags of Australia, including the well known Eureka flag. The constellations formal name is Crux Australis, and is made up of 5 stars in the form of a cross with 2 other stars known as pointers. The individual stars are named after the first 5 letters of the Greek alphabet in order of brightness. Clockwise from the bottom star they are named Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and the smallest star is named Epsilon. The depiction of the Southern Cross as seen on the Australian national flag today was made official in February 1903, it is situated on the 'fly' (right-hand side) showing four seven-pointed stars arranged in a cross and a smaller five-pointed star.
