![[ Fern leaf proposal ]](../images/n/nz!sfern.gif)
Last modified: 2006-09-23 by jonathan dixon
Keywords: proposal: new zealand | leaf: fern | fern | southern cross | stars: southern cross | koru | korukouwhaiwhai | hundertwasser (friedensreich) |
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Recently, there have been a number of calls for a change to the New Zealand
flag. The most notable was in a document entitled "New Zealand Tourism
Strategy 2010", saying that a distinctive flag would be advisable for New
Zealand in terms of visability in tourism. The alternative design proposed was
the black flag with the white (technically silver) fern leaf. The government, however, has said that a change of flag is
not a priority, and that a good deal more discussion would be required before any change could be made.
Thomas Robinson, 17 May 2001
Notes from a paper entitled "Past Attempts to Change the New Zealand Flag"
by John Moody, New Zealand [mooXX]
(Note that these notes are somewhat abbreviated - I could only write so fast!
It would be appreciated if any NZers (or others) could fill in any gaps in the
chronology.)
[Some gaps filled using a version of the paper from Crux Australis [cxa] No. 66 (Vol 16/2)]
Considerable discussion has arisen over the past 40 years surrounding the appropriateness
of the New Zealand flag. Those who want change note that it is a colonial flag,
not truly representative of an independent New Zealand, that it is too similar
to the Australian flag, and that it does not represent the modern multicultural
New Zealand. Those who wish to retain the present flag note that it reflects
New Zealand's historical ties with UK, that there is no good alternative, and
that New Zealanders have fought and died under it.
One of the first proposals was by Clark Titman and appeared in 1967. It showed
a red-white-blue-white-red horizontally striped flag, in a ratio of approximately
3:1:8:1:3, with the white fimbriated red stars of the Southern Cross on the
centre of the blue stripe. The chronology of change continues from there:
May 1973: Labour Party Congress - a call to change the flag
was squashed.
Nov 1979: a proposal to place the silver fern on the fly appeared.
1980: several suggestions arose, including one from the government
to consider a new flag, and a newspaper article calling for the same. One suggestion
was to use the NZ-ZN in blue and red on a white field, from the flag that was
used for the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
1982: D.A. Bayle introduced a blue-white-blue flag
with a blue koru as a proposal.
March 1983: F. Hundertwasser introduced the green
koru.
1984: a black and white koru with stars was proposed, and a
black flag with four white fimbriated red stars was suggested from a newspaper
competition.
Dec 1988: a modified Titman proposal with vertical stripes (almost identical to an
Ausflag proposal in 1997 for Australia).
1989: at a Labour Party conference a call for a new flag was defeated
144:156.
1990: the winning flag in another newspaper competition was
a blue-white-green horizontally striped flag, ratios about 8:2:3, with four
white stars on the blue stripe in the fly. Another flag seen around 1990 was
a blue-yellow-green horizontally striped flag in approximately 10:1:8 ratio.
1994: J. Park proposed a black flag, the UJ in the canton,
with white kiwi and ferns in the fly.
1998: James Dignan initiated discussion leading to a white
fern above a red diagonal on a black field. [James Dignan's design also feature the current
southern cross on a blue background in the lower half of the flag. -Editor]
1999: above design modified to white fern on black.
[Dignan's design was not modified. -Editor]
May 2000: proposed designs still appearing, including black-white-green
tricolour, with four gold stars and a koru.
The current situation (July 2001) is that change is being resisted. Decals
proclaiming "Keep it this way" are seen on cars. By NZ law, a 65%
majority is needed to change the flag, and a recent bill was lost. Opinion polls
(1999) showed that there was 24% in favour of change, and 64% opposed, but when
presented with the white fern on black, these numbers changed to 33% in favour
of the fern, 60% opposed.
The silver fern is increasingly being seen on the streets. It was first used
by the All Blacks rugby team, and is a native species. One of its earliest uses
as a New Zealand emblem was on headstones of WW1 servicemen.
Rob Raeside, 1 August 2001
The most common designs are two variants of the black fern on white -
one of them basically the same as the one used by supporters of the
All Blacks and one the
stylised fern promoted by nzflag.com (the latter seems to be slowly
falling out of favour, probably as much as anything because the
people involved seem, erm, somehwhat single-minded in their approach,
shall we say). The third best-known alternative design is the "Koru"
flag of Hundertwasser, though that's seen more as a complementary
alternative flag than as a replacement for the current one.
James Dignan, 19 May 2006
image
by Pascal Gross, 7 September 1998
By reading the results of this poll [organized by FlagWire],
it appear that people voting in favour of a new flag for New Zealand often mentioned
the Black flag with the silver fern present on the rugby team (All Blacks) jersey.
Pascal Gross, 7 September 1998
Recently, there have been a number of calls for a change to the New Zealand
flag. The most notable was in a document entitled "New Zealand Tourism
Strategy 2010", saying that a distinctive flag would be advisable for New
Zealand in terms of visability in tourism. The alternative design proposed was
the one already mentioned [above], being the black flag with the white (technically
silver) fern leaf. The government, however, has said that a change of flag is
not a priority, and that a good deal more discussion would be required before any change could be made.
Thomas Robinson, 17 May 2001
![[ Sylised fern leaf proposal ]](../images/n/nz!bfern.gif)
image by António Martins 26 April 2006
This design has been actively promoted by the people behind NzFlag.COM, as
seen at http://www.nzflag.com/example.cfm. It is a black 1:2 flag with a
white highly stylized fern frond on it, lacking the characteristic
indentations.
António Martins, 26 April 2006
From Past Attempts to Change the New Zealand Flag [mooXX]
by John Moody, New Zealand:
One of the first proposals was by Clark Titman and appeared in 1967. It showed
a red-white-blue-white-red horizontally striped flag, in a ratio of approximately
3:1:8:1:3, with the white fimbriated red stars of the Southern Cross on the
centre of the blue stripe.
Rob Raeside, 1 August 2001
![[ 1988 version of Titman's proposal ]](../images/n/nz!88.gif)
image by António Martins, 26 April 2006
I note that this flag could be produced by cutting an existing NZ flag and stiching
plain white and red bunting to it, which is an additional advantage.
António Martins, 26 April 2006
![[ Koru flag ]](../images/n/nz!koru.gif)
image
by Hamish Low, 9 December 2004
This is the well known Koru flag, designed
by Friedensreich Hundertwasser who lives in the Far
North of NZ. The Hundertwasser flag (I have had one
for about 14 years) is 1:2 height to width and,
though often appear creamy, were produced white.
Technically this is not a Maori flag, as you will note
although the koru is a Maori
motif, the flag was designed by an Austrian and
does not have a direct Maori cultural significance.
As far as I know the Hundertwasser flag has been
around since the 1970’s — my first positive memories
of it would have been in the early 1980’s but
believe I first saw it in about 1979. (I’ve had
mine since about 1984.)
John Harrison, 11 September 1998
This has gained considerable popularity in the
northern North Island (where most of the Maori
population is found). It also has a reasonable
following among New Zealand 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.
James Dignan
This flag is likely to be seen fluttering from the mast stays of the yacht
of an aging hippy, or from a rough stake in the ground next to a meditation
retreat in the “bush” (NZ for forest). The flag is by no means official or endorsed,
and was only one (foreign) man’s idea for a flag, but it is well recognised
and embraced by a percentage of New Zealanders who identify with it. Alternative
lifestyle has long ago passed as being the “in thing” so that percentage would
be likely to be declining.
John Harrison, 15 September 1998
![[ Southern Cross designs ]](../images/n/nz-scro.gif)
image
by James Dignan
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
![[Proposal by James Dignan]](../images/n/nz!jd.gif)
image by James Dignan, contributed 17 Jul 2006
James Dignan's design of a white fern on black in the upper hoist, and the red,
fimbriated white four-star southern cross on blue in the lower fly,
separated by a white fimbriated red diagonal stripe, appeared in an
article
in The New Zealand Herald on 9 May 2002.
Jonathan Dixon, 17 July 2006