History of flags and flagpoles in New Zealand

Flags came to New Zealand on ships, and for a long time the question of which flag flew from a flagpole was a question of trade, sovereignty and mana. The history runs from a flag chosen by Māori chiefs in 1834, through the Union Jack and a flagstaff felled again and again, to a naval ensign that became the national flag in 1902, the recognition of a national Māori flag in 2009 and two referendums on the flag in 2015 and 2016. The account below follows NZHistory, published by Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

A flag for trade: the United Tribes flag

The need for a flag was first raised in 1830, when the Hokianga-built trading ship Sir George Murray was seized in Sydney: as New Zealand was not a British colony, its ships could not sail under a British flag or register, and without a flag they were liable to seizure. The British Resident, James Busby, suggested a New Zealand flag and saw it also as a way to encourage Māori chiefs to work together. The missionary Henry Williams drew three designs.

On 20 March 1834, 25 Far North chiefs gathered at Busby’s residence at Waitangi to choose a flag. The most popular design, already used by the Church Missionary Society, received 12 votes. Busby declared it the national flag of New Zealand and had it hoisted on a flagpole to a 21-gun salute from HMS Alligator. King William IV approved it, and it became known as the Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand. According to NZHistory, it remains important to northern Māori.

The Union Jack and the flagstaff at Kororāreka

After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, the Union Jack replaced the United Tribes flag as the official flag. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson removed the United Tribes flag from the Bay of Islands and had the New Zealand Company’s version hauled down at Port Nicholson, Wellington.

Some Māori, including the Ngāpuhi chief Hōne Heke, believed Māori should have the right to fly the United Tribes flag alongside the Union Jack, in recognition of their equal status with the government. Heke’s repeated felling of the flagstaff at Kororāreka in 1844–45 was, in NZHistory’s words, a vivid rejection of the Union Jack as a symbol of British power over Māori. The Ngāi Tahu chief Tūhawhaiki’s hoisting of the United Tribes flag on Ruapuke Island in the 1840s also symbolised Māori independence.

From ship’s ensign to national flag

According to NZHistory, the Union Jack remained in regular use in New Zealand well into the 1950s, instead of or together with the New Zealand flag.

The national Māori flag

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag was developed in 1989 by members of the Te Kawariki group and designed by the artists Hiraina Marsden, Jan Dobson and Linda Munn. It was unveiled at Waitangi on 6 February 1990. After a nationwide consultation in 2009, with 21 public hui and more than 1200 submissions, Cabinet recognised it on 14 December 2009 as the preferred national Māori flag. On Waitangi Day 2010 it flew for the first time on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, at Parliament and on other government buildings.

The referendums of 2015 and 2016

In 2014, Prime Minister John Key announced a two-stage referendum on the flag. The public suggested 10,292 designs. In a postal referendum in November 2015, voters chose Kyle Lockwood’s Silver Fern (Black, White and Blue) from five alternatives. In March 2016, they chose between that design and the current flag, and nearly 57 percent preferred the current flag.

From timber flagstaffs to aluminium poles

The flagstaffs of the 19th century, like the one at Kororāreka, were made of timber, and much of the vocabulary of flagpoles, such as yardarm, gaff and halyard, comes from sailing ships. Today New Zealand flag makers make their poles from marine-grade aluminium. The materials are compared in the guide to flagpole materials, the meaning of the flag in the guide to the New Zealand flag, and the other official flags in the guide to flag types.