<Li> The red diagonal St Patrick's Cross of Ireland </Li> <P> The Union Flag is thought to symbolise Australia's history as six British colonies and the principles upon which the Australian Federation is based, although a more historic view sees its inclusion in the design as demonstrating loyalty to the British Empire . </P> <P> The Commonwealth Star, also known as the Federation Star, originally had six points, representing the six federating colonies . In 1908, a seventh point was added to symbolise the Papua and any future territories . Another rationale for the change was to match the star used on the Coat of Arms, which was created in the same year . The Commonwealth Star does not have any official relation to Beta Centauri, despite the latter's brightness and location in the sky; however, the 1870 version of the flag of South Australia featured the "pointer" stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri . </P> <P> The Southern Cross is one of the most distinctive constellations visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and has been used to represent Australia since the early days of British settlement . Ivor Evans, one of the flag's designers, intended the Southern Cross to also refer to the four moral virtues ascribed to the four main stars by Dante: justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude . The number of points on the stars of the Southern Cross on the modern Australian flag differs from the original competition - winning design, in which they ranged between five and nine points each, representing their relative brightness in the night sky . The stars are named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet, in decreasing order of brightness in the sky . In order to simplify manufacture, the British Admiralty standardised the four larger outer stars at seven points each, leaving the smaller, more central star with five points . This change was officially gazetted on 23 February 1903 . </P>

Why does the australian flag have 7 pointed stars
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