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C'mon Aussie C'mon is an example of local use of Aussie as synonym for
Australia.
Legends of Terra Australis Incognita – an "unknown land of the
South" – date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval
geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the
continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass
were often references to the famed Terra Australis.
History. Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to
have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, possibly with the
migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is
now South-East Asia. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of
modern Indigenous Australians. At the time of European settlement in the
late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a
complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and
a belief in the Dreamtime.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and
the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are
attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of
Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February. The
Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named
the island continent "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no
attempt at settlement. William Dampier (dăm’pēr), an English explorer and
privateer (an armed, privately owned vessel commissioned for war service
by a government), landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688
and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and
mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for
Great Britain.
Flag of Australia. The flag of Australia is a defaced Blue Ensign: a
blue field with the Union Jack in the canton (upper hoist quarter), 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 (сузір'я), made up of five white stars – one small five-pointed
star and four, larger, seven-pointed stars.
The flag's original design (with a six-pointed Commonwealth Star) was
chosen in 1901 from entries in a worldwide competition held following
Federation, and was first flown in Melbourne on 3 September 1901; this date
has been proclaimed as Australian National Flag Day. A slightly different
design was approved by King Edward VII in 1902. The current
specifications were formally gazetted ([gə'zet] публікувати в офіційному
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