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19th Century Cook Islands/Rarotonga
Last modified: 1997-10-23 by rob raeside
Keywords: cook islands | oceania | rarotonga | star | palm tree |
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Harald Müller sent me descriptions of 19th Centrury Cook Islands/Rarotonga flags. Here are his descriptions and images I made from them.
Zeljko Heimer, 20-JUL-1996
1850-1888 Flag
Horizontal triband in red-white-red; in the white stripe three 5-pointed stars in dark blue (positions at 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 of the width). At this time the islands presumably were independent under the name of Rarotonga. (I am not quite sure of the size of the stars, but one can argue if such things were fully standardized in the mid-19th century.)
1888-1893 Flag
The Union Jack in the upper hoist corner is added to the 1850-flag. Note that, assuming the usual dimensions of the UJ (i.e. covering one fourth of the flag), two of the stars are partly hidden. In 1888 a British protectorate had been established, the name presumably was still Rarotonga (no sources on that!).
1893-1901 Flag
The three stars were removed from the 1888 flag. The flag is red-white-red plus the Union Jack. In the center of the Union Jack a white disk bearing a palm tree is added (dimensions like the blue disk on the Union Jack in Niue's flag). The palm tree probably stands on a piece of soil (according to a picture in a bank note catalogue). I haven't found any details, so natural colors (green leaves and soil, brown trunk) can be assumed.
The name was by now most likely "Cook Islands" (at least the above-mentioned bank note was issued in the name of a "Government of the C.I.").
After 1901 the Cook Islands were administered by New Zealand. No flag was used until the 1970s. This would be the "Green Ensign", adopted in 1973, and later the Blue Ensign.