by Jan Oskar Engene, 27 June 2002Approved on 15 May 1987.
Last modified: 2005-02-12 by phil nelson
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by Jan Oskar Engene, 27 June 2002
Approved on 15 May 1987.
See also:
Meland municipality is in Hordaland county.
The flag of Meland was adopted after a process starting with a design competition in 1984. In all, 51 designs were submitted; most of them did not comply with the heraldic rules. Two designs, one featuring an auger, the other a cairn (a stone structure built as a marker), won the prizes. Finally, the auger was adopted for the arms and flag, and approval was
granted 15 May 1987. The auger is in white, extending from the top of the flag into a field of red. The production of augers in Meland goes back to 1850, and the auger smith trade spread to 16 forges. By choosing the auger as the symbol for the community, the municipalities wanted to emphasize traditions to be proud of and skills to be keep alive. Local initiative and
industriousness also seems to be a consideration for the adoption of the flag. According to the model drawing the flag has strange proportions, being rectangular the 'wrong' way, that is, longer along the hoist than to the fly. This is no doubt a case of adapting the field to the charge so that the charge better fill the field. The designer is Inge Rotevatn.
Jan Oskar Engene, 27 June 2002
Source: The text and image are based on research Engene did for an article published in the German vexillological journal Der Flaggenkurier, No. 2, 1996 [joe96]. Consult this article for detailed references to sources.
Official blazon in Norwegian: "På raud grunn ein kvit navar-spiss som vender nedover."
Blazoned in English: "Gules an auger palewise issuant from chief argent."
English blazon by Joe McMillan, 5 August 2002