Something else I learned from touring Canberra is what the Australian coat of arms represents. The current coat of arms was officially established in 1912 and is often seen in many places in the country. This picture you see I took at the Australian-American Memorial in Canberra:

The shield you see in the center of the coat represents the military defending the country and the symbols of each of the six states of Australia are represented on the shield. Currently Australia still has six states and two territories. One territory is the Northern Territory obviously in the north of the country and the other is the Australian Capitol Territory where Canberra is located.

Above the shield is the Commonwealth Star which is also seen on the Australian flag which has seven points with six of the points representing the six states and the seventh point representing all Australian territories.

Then finally the most obvious part of the seal are the two animals, the kangaroo and the emu. Both animals are only found in Australia and Aussies often claim that they are the only country that eats the animals on their coat of arms. The animals are supposed to represent Australia’s forward thinking because both animals cannot walk backwards; only forward and Australia is always going forward. After living here a little while, I would have to tend to agree.

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