Why are we called the Southern Cross Region?

Australia officially became a 'region' of Sweet Adelines International nearly 25 years ago.

At that time we became Region 34 of the US-based organisation.  At the time of incorporation as a Region we adopted the name of 'The Southern Cross Region' which described our country to the rest of the world.

Of course today we market ourselves to the wider public as 'Sweet Adelines Australia' but our official name is 'Region 34, the Southern Cross Region of Sweet Adelines International' which is quite a mouthful!

What is the Southern Cross?

The Southern Cross is the best known and most represented star group in the Southern Hemisphere. Just like the members of Sweet Adelines in Australia, the star group's distinctive shape is easily located because of its brightness and close proximity to each other. It can be seen all year round from almost anywhere in the Australia.

Unlike Sweet Adelines Australia members, the constellation is not visible in the northern hemisphere.

The Southern Cross contains four bright stars (or voice parts) so situated that they depict the extremities of a Latin cross. If you look closely you will see the four stars in the Sweet Adelines Australia logo.

Thousands of years ago these four stars were an object of reverence in the Near East. In biblical days they were just visible at the horizon.

The constellation was again discovered in the early sixteenth century by European navigators and explorers who used it to steer by and also to calculate the time of day. Because it is not visible in the northern skies, there are no Greek or Roman myths or legends associated with it. Instead the Australian Aborigines have many stories to tell using the stars of the Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross & the Australian Flag

The design of the Australian flag was chosen in 1901 after an Australia-wide competition. One of the five finalists, with identical designs, was a fourteen year old schoolboy from Melbourne, Ivor Evans, who used the Southern Cross to represent the four moral virtues of justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude (as portrayed by the Italian poet, Dante).  We don't know whether the moral virtues are the reason for choosing the Southern Cross as the name for our region but Sweet Adelines do try to live up to all of them (except maybe at the odd Convention Afterglow occasion, the temperance one may not upheld by all).