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Location:
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Australia Northern Territory, located between Western Australia and Queensland and South Australia.
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Area:
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1,420,968 km²
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Border States:
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Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia
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Capital City:
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Darwin
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Main Cities:
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Alice Springs, Katherine
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Population:
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201,800
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Currency:
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Australian Dollar (AUD)
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Languages:
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English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2001 Census)
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Religions:
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Catholic 26.4%, Anglican 20.5%, other Christian 20.5%, Buddhist 1.9%, Muslim 1.5%, other 1.2%, unspecified 12.7%, none 15.3% (2001 Census)
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The flag of Australia Northern Territory: The current state flag of the Northern Territory was officially adopted by the Northern Territory in 1978.
The flag differs from the flags of the Australian states as it does not include the British Blue Ensign. It is similar in design to that of the flag of the Australian Capital Territory. The flag uses the Territory's floral emblem, and its colours of black, white and ochre. The Southern Cross appears as five white stars on a black panel at the hoist, whilst in the centre of the ochre field in the fly is a stylised Sturt's Desert Rose with seven white petals and a black seven-pointed core. The flag was designed by Robert Ingpen.
The Northern Territory has been in existence since 1911, but could not hoist its first flag until self-government in 1978.
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia. The capital city is Darwin; the other two sizable settlements are Alice Springs (in the desert interior, 1500 km to the south) and Katherine (near the base of the Top End). Residents of the Northern Territory are often known simply as 'Territorians'.
There are many very small settlements scattered across the Territory but the larger population centres are located on the single sealed road that links Darwin to southern Australia, the Stuart Highway, known to locals simply as "the track".
The Northern Territory is also home to two spectacular natural rock formations, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), which are sacred to the local Aborigines and which have become major tourist attractions.
In the northern part of the territory lies Kakadu National Park, which features breathtaking wetlands and native wildlife. To the north of that lies the Arafura Sea, and to the east lies Arnhem Land, whose regional centre is Maningrida on the Liverpool River delta.
The population of the Northern Territory is only about 1% of the total population of Australia. Population centres include the capital, Darwin, nearby Palmerston and Alice Springs. Indigenous Australian people make up 29 per cent of the Northern Territory's population and own some 49% of the land. The Northern Territory's alcohol consumption is one of the highest in the world, and certainly the highest in Australia. In 2001 the alcohol consumption rate was estimated at 1120 standard drinks per person per year.
There were four early attempts to settle the harsh environment of the northern coast, of which three failed in starvation and despair. The Northern Territory was part of New South Wales from 1825 to 1863, and part of South Australia from 1863 to 1911. On 1 January 1911, a decade after federation, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
For a brief time between 1926 and 1931 the Northern Territory was divided into North Australia and Central Australia at the 20th parallel of South latitude. See A Brief History of the Administration in the Northern Territory Soon after this time, parts of the Northern Territory were considered in the Kimberley Scheme as a possible site for the establishment of a Jewish Homeland, understandably considered the "Unpromised Land".
During World War II, most of the Top End was placed under military government. This is the only time since Federation that an Australian state or territory has been under military control. After the war, control for the entire area was handed back to the Commonwealth.
Indigenous Australians had struggled for rights to fair wages and land. An important event in this struggle was the strike and walk off by the Gurindji people at Wave Hill, cattle station in 1966. The Commonwealth Government of Gough Whitlam set up the Woodward Royal Commission in February 1973 set to inquire into how land rights might be achieved in the Northern Territory. Justice Woodward's first report in July 1973 recommended that a Central Land Council and a Northern Land Council be established in order to present to him the views of Aboriginal people. In response to the report of the Royal Commission a Land Rights Bill was drafted, but the Whitlam Government was dismissed before it was passed.
The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 was eventually passed by the Fraser Government on 16 December 1976 and began operation on the following Australia Day (26 January 1977).
In 1978 the Territory was granted responsible government, with a Legislative Assembly headed by a Chief Minister.
During 1996 the Northern Territory was briefly one of the few places in the world with legal voluntary euthanasia, until the Federal Parliament overturned the legislation [1]. Before the overriding legislation was enacted, three people committed suicide through voluntary euthanasia, a practice orchestrated by Dr Philip Nitschke.
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The flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used for signalling or identification. The design of a flag displayed in another form is also referred to as a flag. The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used).
National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are used in messaging or advertising, or for decorative purposes, though at this less formal end the distinction between a flag and a simple cloth banner is blurred. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
Although flag-like symbols have been used by ancient cultures for thousands of years, the origin of flags in the modern sense is a matter of dispute. Some believe flags originated in China, while others hold that the Roman Empire's vexillum was the first true flag. Originally, the standards of the Roman legions were not flags, but symbols like the eagle of Augustus Caesar's Xth legion; this eagle would be placed on a staff for the standard-bearer to hold up during battle. But a military unit from Scythia had for a standard a dragon with a flexible tail which would move in the wind; the legions copied this; eventually all the legions had flexible standards our modern-day flag.
During the Middle Ages, flags were used mainly during battles to identify individual leaders: in Europe the knights, in Japan the samurai, and in China the generals under the imperial army.
From the time of Christopher Columbus onwards, it has been customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to carry flags designating their nationality; these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and maritime flags of today. Flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; see International maritime signal flags.
Beginning in the 17th century, European knights were replaced by centralized armies, and flags became the means to identify not just nationalities but also individual military units. Flags became much more elaborate, and were seen as objects to be captured or defended. Eventually these flags posed too much danger to those carrying them, and by World War I these were withdrawn from the battlefields, and have since been used only at ceremonial occasions.
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