We went to the Melbourne Museum (see Flora’s post here) and it was fantastic. It’s worth the visit. For students, its’ FREE. All you need to do is just to show your student card.

In the museum, there’s one section about Melbourne. The history of Melbourne from 1800s till today. I never knew that I have developed strong interest in history. One particular corner caught my great attention was the Coat of Arms of Australia. While reading the descriptions and studying the designs of the Coat of Arms, I began to appreciate the meaning of all the symbolic natures placed on the Coat of Arms. Nothing occurred to me TILL I got home eating my dinner and then “DING! DING! DING!” Something struck me. There’s something familiar about the Australian Coat of Arms and then I realised that the symbolic natures are almost 95% similar to Malaysian Coat of Arms! Let me first show you both the Coat of Arms here.

Australian Coat of Arms

The Australian Coat of Arms is supported by two Australian animals (Kangaroo & Emu). At the top of the shield, there’s a 7-pointed stars representing the 6 states and 1 unit of 2 territories. The shield have 6 different designs representing the 6 states of Australia (Top left to right: New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Bottom left to right: South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania). The plant you see (Golden Wattle) is the national floral of Australia.

Now let us look at the Malaysian Coat of Arms.

Malaysian Coat of Arms

The Malaysian Coat of Arms is supported by two Malaysian animals (Tigers). At the top of the shield, there’s a 14-pointed stars representing the 13 states and 1 unit of 3 territories. The shield have something that represents the 13 states of Malaysia. Top 5 Keris: The Non-federated States of Kedah, Perlis, Johor, Kelantan and Terengganu. Middle 4 colors: The Federated States of Selangor, Perak, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. Side two designs with plant: The Straits states of Penang (left) and Malacca (right). Bottom: The states of East Malaysia: Sabah (left) and Sarawak (right). The flower you see (Hibiscus) is the national flower of Malaysia.

How interesting….. (Add to my another reason to add to my post on why you found a lot of Malaysian in Australia)