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Proposals for a new flag of New Zealand

New Zealand is, as often happens, tagging along on an Australian debate - should we get a new national flag to replace the distinctly colonial one we currently have? Here are some proposals.

Fern Leaf
Southern Cross
Koru
Moko

Fern Leaf

The "Fern Leaf" is based on the Canadian model, and features mid-blue vertical bands on either side of a white central square containing a black fern leaf. The blue is about the same shade as on the Romanian flag. The fern leaf is the same as the symbol used by New Zealand's international sports teams.
James Dignan

Southern Cross

This proposal emphasises New Zealand's location as a green land at the bottom of a blue ocean, and is the design I like the most of the four. It doesn't use the fern, but retains the traditional four-star Southern Cross used at present. The flag consists of three uneven horizontal stripes, ratio (approx) 14:1:5, of dark or mid-blue, gold and green, with the four stars of the southern cross in white (I've also seen it with the white and gold reversed, i.e,, stars gold, stripe white).
James Dignan

This is another version of the Southern Cross flag proposal that I've seen recently. It is very similar to the current flag, but a lighter shade of blue, no Union Jack canton, and with a slightly larger and more centrally placed Southern Cross.
James Dignan, 21-AUG-96

Koru

This is the first of the two flags based on Maori designs, and has gained considerable popularity in the northern North Island (where most of the Maori population is found). It also has a reasonable following among NZ whites, or "pakeha" as they are called in Maori, especially with alternative lifestylers.
The flag is based (roughly) on a type of Maori pattern known as koru, or korukouwhaiwhai, which has flowing spirals representing young fern leaves. Because of this, the flag is green and white (to represent the fern and sky), rather than the traditional Maori colours of white, black and red. The flag is divided diagonally (party per bend sinister), starting at the bottom corner by the flagpole, with white over green. However, as it approaches the top on the fly side, the green curls over into a spiral shape. The green is a deep yellowish leafy green, rather than the rich green normally seen on flags. The white also seems a slightly creamy white rather than the pure brilliant white normally seen. Of course, this could be simply because the flags I've seen were dirty!
James Dignan

Moko

The flag is being regarded as a Maori rights protest flag in much the same way as the red, black and gold Australian Aboriginal flag is regarded as a protest flag. Then again, at this end of the country (the far south) there is not the big Maori presence there is in the northern North Island, so the flag is less common here. The fact that the three colours (red, white and black) are the traditional colours of Maori art (having been the three colour dyes that could be made from local earth and plants). Most traditional carving features a combination of these colours. Although I'm not certain, the pattern may represent the traditional moko (face tattoos) which were a symbol of status for Maori. It was possible to see some very elderly Maori with true moko as recently as the 1970s. It is still the case that some younger Maori will have their faces tattooed.
James Dignan

I recently read some details of the Maori Independence (Tino Rangatiratanga) movement's flag. The flag is black over white over red, with the thin white stripe being broken by a circular - almost sprial - pattern towards the hoist. It was designed in 1990 by Hiraina Marsden, Jan Smith and Linda Munn, and was the winning design in a national contest to find a "Maori Flag".

The symbology of the flag is as follows:
BLACK represents Te Korekore (the realm of potential being). It thus symbolises the long darkness from which the earth emerged, as well as signifying Rangi - the heavens, a male, formless, floating, passive force.
RED represents Te Whei Ao (coming into being). It symbolises Papatuanuku, the earth mother, the sustainer of all living things, and thus both the land and active forces.
WHITE represents Te Ao Marama (the realm of being and light). It symbolises the physical world, purity, harmony, enlightenment and balance.
The spiral-like koru, symbolic of a curling fern frond, represents the unfolding of new life, hope for the future and the process of renewal.

As a whole, the design represents the balance of the forces of nature, masculine and feminine, active and passive, potential and physical, air and earth. It can also be interpreted as symbolising the white cloud rolling across the face of the land, as in the Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa ("Land of the long white cloud")

Source: Otago University Student Newspaper "The Critic", Issue 10, April 1996.
James Dignan, 21-AUG-1996

I have seen pictures on WWW pages where this design (if I am correct) is incorporated into the current New Zealand flag instead of the flag of the United Kingdom.

South Island "independence" proposal

The other day I mentioned that there had been been (not particularly serious) suggestions of the South Island of New Zealand declaring itself independent. These calls are mentioned occasionally, never seriously, due to perceived flow of wealth from the South to the North (in the form of hydroelectric power and, historically, gold), and the perceived lack of interest in the south shown by the New Zealand government.

Although I hesitate to send another "imaginary" flag to the list, I will send the flag which I've designed as a potential national flag in the unlikely event that the South Island does ever motivate itself to secede. It contains the southern cross emblem from the current New Zealand flag, in the sky over a stylised snow-capped, forest-clad mountain, representing the South Island.
James Dignan, 26-AUG-1996