Southern Cross

The Southern Cross, like the Nordic Cross, is emblazoned on many flags, but the main national flags on which it appears (Australia, New Zealand, Samoa) are outnumbered by the vast array of provincial flags and naval jacks form those countries. I did leave out two of the other nations flying a banner with a southern cross. One of the two will show up later as part of a larger post.

The other:

Papua New Guinea here, checking in from the warm world of just under the equator.

The red, black, and white are the colors of the German Empire, the Europeans that colonized the island in the late 19th century. This was designed by a fifteen year old girl as part of a contest. The bird is raggiana bird of paradise, and is also on the country's coat of arms.

This is a cool design, certainly, but it wasn't done in a vacuum. Here's the territorial flag, flown as they were gaining independence from Australia in the seventies:

I think I like the colors on this one better, but the diagonal bisection on the other is pretty sweet. It might look a little silly with the black background, but that doesn't stop it from being cool.