The first thing that you notice about the Australian flag is the presence of the Union Jack (the British flag) in it's top left-hand corner. This is of course due to Australia being a monarchy, under Great Britain (our monarch being Queen Elizabeth II). Our national flag, or ensign, was officially recognised following the Flags Act of 1953, even though the design you see here (above) has existed since 1903. The seven-pointed star underneath the Union Jack symbolises the Commonwealth of Australia, which is made up of the six Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania), each represented by one point of this star, and the last point of the star represents our two territories: Australian Capital Territory, and Northern Territory. The five stars on the right half of our ensign may look familiar, they make up the star constellation Crux, also known as the Southern Cross. This constellation played an important role in the navigation of the very ships that first arrived in Australia.