NEW ZEALAND FLAG !

The New Zealand Flag is symbolic of the people of New Zealand, and a hot debate at the moment is that it should be re-designed.





Its blue background represents blue sea and sky.
The stars are the Southern Cross & show our location in the South Pacific Ocean.
The Union Flag is all about the history and the fact that New Zealand was once a British colony.



The first design for the flag was rejected by James Busby in 1833 because it contained no red, 'a colour to which the New Zealanders are particularly partial, and which they are accustomed to consider as indicative of rank'


Rejected design

In 1834 the Maori chiefs gathered at Waitangi to choose the flag from 4 possible the current flag got 12/25 votes and became the NZ flag.



When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840, the Union Jack replaced the Flag of New Zealand as the official flag of New Zealand. As the story goes, the Maor warrior Hone Heke, then cut down the flagstaff with the new flag on it 4 times!



During the NZ wars Maori tribes designed and carried their own flags into battle, to signify their mana. One memorable one was 52 ft by 4ft (or just under 16m by 1.2m),captured by Te Kooti in 1868.
It was decorated with a crescent moon, a cross, a six-pointed star, a mountain representing New Zealand and a bleeding heart, thought to symbolise the sufferings of the Maori people. Apparently it ended up being used as a duster in the NZ Museum !?



The New Zealand Flag has been official since 1902 and is flown from Harbour bridge every day and everywhere else on special days, such as Anzac Day.The Union Jack is used when we have a visit from Royalty!



In 2005 there was a competition to redesign the flag, incorporating the silver fern emblem. James Dignan proposed this design.



Another design being considered is Kyle Lockwood's idea here..



Here's my favourite suggestion for the new flag from the 2007 suggestions..by Alexander Jago



In reality it's probably the All Black's flag which is most widely recognized - but I don't see any red there? Is that where the expression "seeing red" comes from - the Maori?



And here we have the 'unofficial' Maori flag!