1.
Araucaria heterophylla
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Araucaria heterophylla is a vascular plant in the ancient and now disjointly distributed conifer family Araucariaceae. The genus Araucaria occurs across the South Pacific, especially concentrated in New Caledonia where 13 closely related and it is sometimes called a star pine, triangle tree or living Christmas tree, due to its symmetrical shape as a sapling, although it is not a true pine. The trees grow to a height of 50–65 m, with straight trunks and symmetrical branches. The young leaves are awl-shaped, 1-1.5 cm long, about 1 mm thick at the base on young trees, the thickest, scale-like leaves on coning branches are in the upper crown. The cones are globose, 10–12 cm long and 12–14 cm diameter. They disintegrate at maturity to release the nut-like edible seeds, the scientific name heterophylla derives from the variation in the leaves between young and adult plants. The first European known to have sighted Norfolk Island was Captain James Cook, in the late 1950s a trial shipment of Norfolk pine logs was sent to plywood manufacturers in Sydney, Australia, with hopes to develop a timber export industry on Norfolk Island. Although the plywood companies reported excellent results, the industry was deemed not sustainable by the Norfolk Island Advisory Council, the timber is good for woodturning and together with the similar Cook pine is extensively used by Hawaii artisans. The distinctive appearance of tree, with its widely spaced branches and symmetrical, triangular outline, has made it a popular cultivated species. When the tree reaches maturity, the shape may become less symmetrical and it grows well in deep sand, as long as it receives reliable water when young. This, and its tolerance of salt and wind, makes it ideal for coastal situations, young trees are often grown as houseplants in areas where the winters are too cold for them to grow outside, and are sometimes used as Christmas trees. It will not survive in areas subject to prolonged cold, however, there are a few specimens growing outdoors in the subtropical gardens of Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly, in the United Kingdom. What is probably the most northerly specimen growing outdoors is a tree on Valentia Island on the southwest coast of Ireland. The tendency for potted saplings to develop a barren appearance can be helped by growing them in clumps, in northern climates they can be left outdoors during summer to promote fuller growth. Large numbers of Norfolk Island pines are produced in south Florida for the houseplant industry, the bulk of these are shipped to grocery stores, discount retailers and garden centres during November. Many of these are sprayed with a coating of green paint prior to sale to increase their eye appeal. Some areas in the southern USA deserts and subtropical Florida prohibit the planting of Norfolk Island Pine due to the fact they can be struck by lightning, the species survival is not threatened at all, as it is grown commercially for potted plants. However, the native, natural stands of A. heterophylla were always restricted and have much reduced since Capt
2.
Norfolk Island
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The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia. Together with two neighbouring islands, it one of Australias external territories. It has 1,796 inhabitants living on an area of about 35 km2. Norfolk Island was first settled by East Polynesians but was long unpopulated when it was also settled by Great Britain as part of its settlement of Australia from 1788. The island served as a penal settlement from 6 March 1788 until 5 May 1855. On 8 June 1856, permanent civilian residence on the island began when it was settled from Pitcairn Island, in 1914 the UK handed Norfolk Island over to Australia to administer as an external territory. The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is a symbol of the island, native to the island, the pine is a key export for Norfolk Island, being a popular ornamental tree on mainland Australia, where two related species grow, and also worldwide. Norfolk Island was settled by East Polynesian seafarers either from the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand or from the North Island of New Zealand and they arrived in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, and survived for several generations before disappearing. The first European known to have sighted and landed on the island was Captain James Cook, on 10 October 1774 and he named it after Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk. Sir John Call argued the advantages of Norfolk Island in that it was uninhabited, in 1786 the British government included Norfolk Island as an auxiliary settlement, as proposed by John Call, in its plan for colonisation of New South Wales. The decision to settle Norfolk Island was taken due to Empress Catherine II of Russias decision to restrict sales of hemp, practically all the hemp and flax required by the Royal Navy for cordage and sailcloth was imported from Russia. They arrived on 6 March 1788, during the first year of the settlement, which was also called Sydney like its parent, more convicts and soldiers were sent to the island from New South Wales. As early as 1794, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales Francis Grose suggested its closure as a settlement, as it was too remote and difficult for shipping. The first group of left in February 1805, and by 1808 only about 200 remained. A small party remained to slaughter stock and destroy all buildings, so there would be no inducement for anyone, especially from other European powers, to visit. From 15 February 1814 to 6 June 1825 the island was abandoned, in 1824 the British government instructed the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane, to occupy Norfolk Island as a place to send the worst description of convicts. Its remoteness, previously seen as a disadvantage, was now viewed as an asset for the detention of recalcitrant male prisoners, furthermore, the overwhelming majority of convicts sent to Norfolk Island had committed non-violent property sentences, and the average length of detention was three years. The second penal settlement began to be wound down by the British government after 1847, the island was abandoned because transportation from the United Kingdom to Van Diemens Land had ceased in 1853, to be replaced by penal servitude in the UK
3.
Triband (flag)
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The triband is one of the most common designs of flag, and is the design of some 30% of all current national flags. As the name suggests, the feature of the design of a triband is three parallel bands of colour. If the three bands have three different colors, the triband is a tricolour, in its simplest form, the triband consists of three equally sized horizontal or vertical stripes and nothing else. Examples of horizontal tribands include the flags of Austria and Germany. In each of these pairs, the second named flag is also a tricolour, diagonal tribands are less common, and often do not have stripes of equal areas or widths. An example is the flag of the Republic of the Congo, such flags are often not considered tribands by vexillologists, but rather are described as having a single diagonal stripe on a one- or two-coloured background. More complex tribands include flags charged or defaced with an emblem or flags with bands of unequal size, the most famous complex triband is arguably the national flag of Canada, which is charged with a maple leaf and has bands of uneven size. The ratio of the bands on this flag has led to the term Canadian pale to refer to any central vertical band on a triband which is twice the size of the bands on either side. Some tribands, such as the flag of the Gambia, are fimbriated and this means that between the stripes there are narrower stripes. This is sometimes done to increase contrast between multiple stripes or to follow the rule of tincture, though in cases the fimbriation also has specific symbolism. Below is a list of tribands organized by continent, some of them are charged, i. e. they have some additional symbol apart from the three simple coloured fields
4.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
5.
Flags of the World
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Flags of the World is an Internet-based vexillological association and resource. Its principal project is the Internets largest website devoted to vexillology, containing information about all kinds of flags. The mailing list began as a group in about September 1993, while the website was founded by Giuseppe Bottasini in late 1994. FotW became the 56th member of the FIAV in 2001, both the website and the mailing list operate in the English language, though there are members from around the world and as such information from many languages is translated and included. The mailing list is monitored by the FOTW Listmaster, while work on the website is coordinated by the FOTW Editorial Director, the website is updated once a week with fresh material, some mirrors update monthly. Due to the amount of material there is an editing backlog. There are also some mirrors that have not been updated for varying periods of time, the source for material on the FOTW website are contributions to the FOTW mailing list, which has over 1000 members, of which some 100 are active contributors. The mailing list has notable minorities of Portuguese, French, Dutch, a staff of three unpaid volunteers manages and moderates the list. An affiliated Flags of the World Facebook group has established, inaugurated by Edward Mooney. As of November 2016 the group is run and moderated by a team of ten administrators, FOTW displays standardized flag images in GIF format, usually at a height of 216 pixels. While the GIF file format is capable of displaying 256 colours, the organizations flag is a design by Mark Sensen, which was selected over 10 challengers in a poll of FOTW mailing list members and was adopted 8 March 1996. Since then, March 8 has been regarded as FOTWs Flag day, Sensen described its symbolism, White on the hoist stands for peace, blue on the fly for progress. The six colours of the stars are the colours used in flags. The stars help to make one bigger symbol, the way the stars are all connected to each other represents the Internet. The flag is used as a rare representation of the Internet on a flag. List of flags List of flags by country Gallery of country flags Flags of the World Dictionary of Vexillology Flag Days Of The World FOTW mailing list
6.
Flag of Australia
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The flag of Australia is a defaced Blue Ensign, a blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, and a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter. The fly contains a representation of the Southern Cross constellation, made up of five white stars – one small five-pointed star and four, larger, there are other official flags representing Australia, its people and core functions of government. A slightly different design was approved by King Edward VII in 1903, the seven-pointed commonwealth star version was introduced by a proclamation dated 23 February 1908. The dimensions were formally gazetted in 1934, and in 1954 the flag recognised by, and legally defined in. Constituent parts of the flag of Australia The Australian flag uses three prominent symbols, the Union Flag, the Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross, the Commonwealth Star, also known as the Federation Star, originally had six points, representing the six federating colonies. In 1908, a point was added to symbolise the Papua. Another rationale for the change was to match the star used on the Coat of Arms, 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 designers, intended the Southern Cross to also refer to the four moral virtues ascribed to the four main stars by Dante, justice, prudence, temperance. The stars are named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet, in order to simplify manufacture, the British Admiralty standardised the four larger outer stars at seven points each, leaving the smaller, more central star with five points. This change was gazetted on 23 February 1903. A complete specification for the design was published in the Commonwealth Gazette in 1934. The location of the stars is as follows, Commonwealth Star – 7-pointed star, alpha Crucis – 7-pointed star, straight below centre fly 1⁄6 up from bottom edge. Beta Crucis – 7-pointed star, 1⁄4 of the way left, gamma Crucis – 7-pointed star, straight above centre fly 1⁄6 down from top edge. Delta Crucis – 7-pointed star, 2⁄9 of the way right, Epsilon Crucis – 5-pointed star, 1⁄10 of the way right and 1⁄24 down from the centre fly. The outer diameter of the Commonwealth Star is 3⁄10 of the width, while that of the stars in the Southern Cross is 1⁄7 of the flags width, except for Epsilon. Each stars inner diameter is 4⁄9 of the outer diameter, the flags width is the measurement of the hoist edge of the flag. The colours of the flag, although not specified by the Flags Act, have been given Pantone specifications by the Awards and Culture Branch of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Australian Governments Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers also gives CMYK and RGB specifications for depicting the flag in print and on screen respectively
7.
Australian Aboriginal Flag
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The Australian Aboriginal Flag is a flag that represents Aboriginal Australians. It is one of the flags of Australia, and holds special legal and political status. It is often together with the national flag and with the Torres Strait Islander Flag. The flag was designed for the land rights movement. The flags width is 1.5 times its height and it is horizontally divided into a black region and a red region. A yellow disc is superimposed over the centre of the flag, the Government of Australia granted it Flag of Australia status, under the Flags Act 1953, by proclamation on 14 July 1995. Due to an oversight, the 1995 proclamation was not lodged so that it would continue in force indefinitely. It was therefore almost identically replaced, on 25 January 2008, the design is reproduced in Schedule 1 and described in Schedule 2. The symbolic meaning of the colours is, The flag was first flown on National Aborigines Day in Victoria Square in Adelaide on 12 July 1971. It was also used in Canberra at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from late 1972, despite strong criticism from both Games officials and Australian team president Arthur Tunstall, Freeman carried both flags again after winning the 400 metres. Nonetheless, since Howard became Prime Minister in 1996 and under subsequent Labor governments, however, this decision was differently criticised by Thomas himself, who said that the Aboriginal flag doesnt need any more recognition. Thomas had sought recognition of his ownership and compensation following the Federal Governments 1995 proclamation of the design. His claim was contested by two others, George Brown and James Tennant, the National Indigenous Advisory Committee campaigned for the Aboriginal flag to be flown at Stadium Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics. SOCOG announced that the Aboriginal flag would be flown at Olympic venues, the flag was flown over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the march for reconciliation of 2000, and many other events. On the 30th anniversary of the flag in 2001, thousands of people were involved in a ceremony where the flag was carried from the Parliament of South Australia to Victoria Square. Since 8 July 2002, after recommendations of the Councils Reconciliation Committee, the Aboriginal Flag has been flown in Victoria Square. Many buildings in Australia fly the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian flag, various councils in Australian towns fly the Aboriginal flag from the town halls, such as Bendigo. The first city council to fly the Aboriginal flag was Newcastle City Council in 1977, the Aboriginal flag is sometimes substituted for the Union Flag in the canton of Australias flag in proposed new Australian flag designs
8.
Torres Strait Islander Flag
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The Torres Strait Islander Flag is an official flag of Australia, and is the flag that represents Torres Strait Islander people. It was designed in 1992 by Bernard Namok and it won a local competition held by the Islands Coordinating Council, and was recognised by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in June 1992. The Government of Australia granted it Flag of Australia status, under the Flags Act 1953, due to an administrative oversight, the 1995 proclamation was not lodged so that it would continue in force indefinitely, hence it automatically expired on 1 January 2008. It was therefore almost identically replaced, on 25 January 2008, the design is reproduced in Schedule 1 and described in Schedule 2. Although Namok has since died, the Torres Strait Islander Flag is still subject to copyright under the Copyright Act 1968. The green panels at the top and the bottom of the flag symbolise the land, the thin black stripes between the green and blue panels signify the Torres Strait Islanders themselves. The white five-pointed star at the centre of the flag represents the five island groups. White symbolises peace, while the star is a symbol for navigation, AIATSIS, Torres Strait Islander flag Retrieved 5 March 2015. Official Australian Government website, Its an Honour - Torres Strait Islander Flag, Torres Strait Island Regional Council Torres Strait Regional Authority Torres Strait Islander Flag at Flags of the World
9.
Australian Red Ensign
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The winning design was based on the traditional British Red Ensign and featured the Southern Cross and Commonwealth Star. The original variety of points was an indication of the brightness of each star as it appeared in the night sky. In 1908, the current Commonwealth star of seven points replaced the earlier six-pointed star, technically private non-registered vessels were liable to a substantial fine if they did not fly the British Red Ensign as they were not formally covered by the Navigation Act. However, an Admiralty Warrant was issued on 5 December 1938 which authorised such non-registered vessels to fly the Australian Red Ensign, australia enacted fully domestic shipping legislation in 1981. From 1901 to 1954 the Red Ensign was used as the flag by State and local governments, private organisations
10.
Australian Civil Aviation Ensign
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The Australian Civil Aviation Ensign is an Australian flag that is used by the Australian Civil Aviation Authority. The design of the flag is based on the British Civil Air Ensign, there is a Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter, and the other quarters light blue. In 1948, the colour of the stars was changed to white, originally, civil air ensigns were intended to be flown at airports and by civilian aircraft on the ground. Australian Civil Aviation Ensign at Flags of the World Discussion on its specifications
