Southern Cross

• IPA^(key): /ˌsʌðə(ɹ)n ˈkɹɒs/

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the Southern Cross

1. (astronomy) A distinctive winter constellation of the southern sky, shaped like a cross, which appears in the flags of several countries in Oceania.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 167:

     The stars had not quite faded out of the sky, and the Southern Cross was still shining faintly in the heavens; the jungle all round was very still, just as if Nature was waiting to introduce the busy hum of life till the last solemn scene was over.

2. The constellation as a symbol of Australia, New Zealand and various other places in the Southern Hemisphere.

• Crux

• Northern Cross