quicko: further australian patriotism-ish-ness

Also according to Garry (and presumably lots of other sources like atlases, I'm hoping), there are six Australian (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia) states and two territories (the Australian Capital Territory (i.e., Canberra for all practical purposes) and the Northern Territory).  The Australian flag, however, differs from the American in that each star does not represent a particular state.  Rather, there are five stars that together form the Southern Cross constellation and one star, called the Federation star or Commonwealth star (it's a vestige of English history, and Garry still sounds a bit bitter about it, so I didn't press for too many details there).  The Federation star has seven points and these seven points stand for the six states plus "other stuff" (i.e., the two territories and Norfolk Island, etc.).  So, while there are six stars on the flag, they do not actually correlate to the six states.

Finally, in true journalistic form, Garry suggests that, if you don't believe him, you check out wikipedia.