![[ Fern leaf proposal ]](../images/n/nz!sfern.gif)
Last modified: 2022-04-09 by ian macdonald
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.
March 2014: speech by Prime
Minister John Key on the future referendum on the New Zealand flag can be read
here:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-victoria-university-0
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
On 9 February 2014, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key unexpectedly suggested changing the design of the country's national flag.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-26114113
Howard J. Wilk,
10 February 2014
New Zealand will be holding a general election on September 20th, and on Wednesday 3rd of September, the Labour Party's Internal Affairs Spokesman Trevor Mallard announced "that Labour would review the design of the New Zealand flag, with the party saying "The time has come for a change and it is right for the issue to be put to the public.""
So what this is saying is that whatever the outcome of the election
both major parties are now in favour of changing New Zealand's flag. Prime
Minister John Key wants a referendum held on the matter before the next general
election to be held by 2017. It looks as though New Zealand will follow Canada
and South Africa down the path of flag change.
John Moody, 6
September 2014
The New Zealand Prime Minister who was re-elected on Saturday announced yesterday that "I'd like to complete the whole process next year. I don't think it's one of those things we want to hang around." The debate will be decided by referendum and Key has already started making the case for change, labeling the current design of a Union Jack and Southern cross "A relic from New Zealand's colonial past."
The Returned and Services Association has already lined up against any
change. The momentum to change the New Zealand flag continues to speed up with
backing now by the two major political parties in New Zealand, National and
Labour but also our Prime Minister and Governor General. For a nation's flag to
change it needs a champion, here we have it in our Prime Minister John Key our
version of Canada's Lester Pearson.
John Moody, 22 September 2014
The momentum to change the New Zealand Flag continues apace. The first of two
referendums on changing New Zealand's flag could be held as early as next year,
with a decision in early 2016, according to press reports this week (Thursday)
in the New Zealand media. Prime Minister John Key addressed the Returned and
Services national conference on Wednesday "to lay his case for a new New Zealand
ensign." The Returned and Services Association has already come out in
opposition to adopting a new flag for New Zealand. John Key had softened his
preference for a Silver Fern on a black background saying, "it was unlikely to
be a popular option." He had been swayed more toward a design by Kyle Lockwood
that retained the colours of New Zealand's current flag with a Silver Fern and
Southern Cross.
This weekend we saw the flag being debated on the current
affairs programme, The Nation on Television Three with two advocates debating
the pros and cons of flag change, one advocate being for change the other
against. You can view this programme on demand if you type in tv3.co.nz.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was interviewed by the British media this
week telling them that "his desire to remove the Union Jack from the flag is
more rebranding than an insult." This was reported in this morning's Sunday Star
Times. He went onto say, "We are no longer the tiny little offshoot of Britain
in the South Pacific. The thing is it should sort of scream 'New Zealandness'. I
want to build greater confidence in and more overt signs of patriotism."
John Moody, 18 October 2014
Details of the referendum to decide whether New Zealanders want to retain the
current New Zealand Flag or adopt a completely new design were announced
yesterday by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. A flag consideration committee
panel would be set up consisting of a group of respected New Zealanders who
would then seek submissions from the public on new flag designs and suggestions.
Two binding referendums would then be held, one to be held November-December
2015 for voters to pick their favourite alternative flag design, the second to
be held in April 2016 for a run off between the current flag and the winning
alternative flag.
Controversy has surrounded the referendum process which
has been costed at N.Z. $ 25.7 million with critics saying this money could be
better spent on other things. Interviewed on New Zealand Television last night
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said that Canada was his inspiration in
trying to get the New Zealand flag changed. The urrent debate to get New
Zealand's flag changed and the upcoming referendums to decide whether it is
changed or not is especially topical with next years Congress of Vexillology
being held in Sydney, Australia, New Zealand's near neighbour.
John Moody,
29 October 2014
John Key raises the flag debate whenever there are more important
political policies he wishes to distract the public from - it has been a regular
smokescreen of his for the last six years. Recent polls have shows that the
majority of New Zealanders do not want the flag to be changed, and are, for the
most part, fed up with the constant debate, so he has initiated this pair of
referenda to ensure they stay at the top of the nation's public political focus.
Key, however, is keen to have a new flag, and sees it as a potential "legacy to
the nation". Presenting this as a pair of referenda has its critics - not least
because there have been at least two citizens-initiated referenda during Key's
premiership, the results of both of which his government has ignored. Another
major criticism is that half the cost could potentially be saved if the order of
the referenda was reversed. What is the point of deciding an alternative design
(as decided in the first referendum) if the public wish to keep the present flag
(as decided in the second)? There is only one purpose - by deciding on a design
in the first, it will focus the public's attention on the new design and make it
familiar to them, swaying them towards that in the second referendum.
James Dignan, 29 October 2014
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 visibility 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 2006This 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
![[Cartoon from Christchurch shooting]](../images/n/nz_sfern-19.gif)
image
located by Ralph Bartlett, 24 March 2019
Three days after the 15 March 2019 horrific and tragic massacre of praying
Muslims at two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Australian Fairfax Media
newspaper cartoonist, Pat Campbell, drew a moving cartoon loosely based on New
Zealand's 'Silver Fern' Flag, which I have attached. All the fronds have been
replaced with 49 human figures, representing the originally found number of
victims. Unfortunately, by the time this cartoon was published the death toll
had increased by one to 50 victims.
Details about this cartoon, which is
not of an actual flag, and the cartoonist who created it can be found at
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/world-embraces-pat-campbell-s-moving-response-to-christchurch-20190322-p516he.html.
This cartoon, based upon New Zealand's popular 'Silver Fern' flag, sums
up the size of this tragedy and is also a very appropriate memorial and tribute
to these New Zealand victims. It was published in Fairfax Media's three main
newspapers, "The Canberra Times", "The Sydney Morning Herald" and Melbourne's
"The Age", on the 18 March.
Ralph Bartlett, 24 March 2019
The panel includes including reality television guru Julie Christie, businessman Rod Drury, former Defence Force chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones and sporting legends Beatrice Faumina and Sir Brian Lochore.
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English announced the Flag Consideration Panel today
[26 February 2015], which will be chaired by John Burrows, the former deputy chancellor of the University of Canterbury. Writer Kate de Goldi is the deputy chair.
Others include Nicky Bell, the chief executive of ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi; former Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin, youth councillor Stephen Jones, academic Malcolm Mulholland and Maori studies academic Hana O'Regan.
Mike
Parke, 25 February 2015
From
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/11793864/New-Zealands-new-flag-Some-of-the-weird-and-wonderful-designs-in-pictures.html:
New Zealanders were presented with 40 flag options (above) as the country
moved a step closer towards voting on whether it wanted to change its national
standard. The government-appointed panel overseeing the project released its
longlist of designs, chosen from more than 10,000 public submissions. The 40
will now be subject to further scrutiny, including an intensive intellectual
property review, before being whittled down to four to be put to a public vote
later this year.
Here is a selection of some of the weird, bizarre and
wonderful designs that were submitted by the public over the past year.
Composite of 40 finalists image at:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03403/new-zealand-flags-_3403196k.jpg
For an NZ take on the situation:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70996308/a-list-of-40-possible-alternative-flags-chosen-from-10000
The NZ government page describing the status is at
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/
Rob Raeside, 10 August 2015
From "Thank you NZ": 10,292 alternative flag designs were suggested to the Flag
Consideration Panel. The Panel would like to thank everyone who suggested a
design.
View on www.govt.nz
Alex
Garofolo, 7 September 2015
On 1 September, the Flag Consideration panel announced four finalists from
the 10,292 submissions. These four options were to be voted on (using single
transferable vote) in a first referendum, with the winner of that vote being
presented as the alternative to the current flag in a second referendum next
year.
The four options were:
Silver Fern (black and white), Alofi
Kanter
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/n/nz!pro1.gif)
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/54
The field is white at top hoist, black at bottom fly, divided by a
countercharged fern from bottom hoist to top fly. The fern design is the
FernMark, used and promoted by The New Zealand Way Ltd, a government group
promoting NZ branding for use in export business and so on. The designer says:
The fern has been a distinctive symbol of New Zealand for the past 100 years. Strong and simple, it represents our uniqueness as Aotearoa New Zealand and the black and white colours show our ‘yin and yang’, with the softly curved spine of the frond binding us all together as a young, independent and proud nation. Credit for the fern goes to The New Zealand Way Limited.Silver Fern (Red, White and Blue) Kyle Lockwood
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/n/nz!pro2.gif)
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015The silver fern: A New Zealand icon for over 160 years, worn proudly by many generations. The fern is an element of indigenous flora representing the growth of our nation. The multiple points of the fern leaf represent Aotearoa’s peaceful multicultural society, a single fern spreading upwards represents that we are all one people growing onward into the future. The red represents our heritage and sacrifices made. Blue represents our clear atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean, over which all New Zealanders, or their ancestors, crossed to get here. The Southern Cross represents our geographic location in the antipodes. It has been used as a navigational aid for centuries and it helped guide early settlers to our islands.See also: Silver Fern Rainbow flag
Koru, Andrew Fyfe
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/n/nz!pro3.gif)
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/32074
This flag is white at hoist, black to the fly, in proportion 1:2, coming
together as two spirals, black from the top and white from the bottom. The
black arm ends in a circle, forming a koru or unfurling fern frond.
Symbolism:
As our flag unfurls, so too does its koru. The koru represents the fern frond, but is also reminiscent of a wave, a cloud, and a ram’s horn. In Māori kowhaiwhai patterns the koru represent new life, growth, strength and peace, and for this reason has taken a special place in Aotearoa’s visual language.Silver Fern (Black, White and Blue), Kyle Lockwood
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/n/nz!pro4.gif)
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/2172
This alternative design is identical to Lockwood's design above, with the red field at the hoist changed to black.
Complete specifications for each of
the flags can be found from
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/the-four-alternatives/
Red Peak flag
After the four proposals were announced, there was some criticism of
the lack of variation between the four options (3 ferns, two alternatives of
the Lockwood design). In particular, there was a movement for inclusion of
Aaron Dustin's Red Peak design, with a petition to add it to the shortlist
gaining 50,000 supporters. After various political responses, the Green Party
introduced legislation to make it a fifth option in the first referendum, and
the National government today indicated that they would support it.
Red Peak: ('First to the Light')
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/n/nz!pro5.gif)
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/24310
The flag has two thick white diagonal lines, one from the bottom hoist to
the centre top and one from the bottom fly to centre top, forming a pitched
roof over a rustic red triangle with half the width and height of the flag.
The field to the hoist is black, to the fly blue. Symbolism:
Simplified geometric elements based on Taniko pattern representing land, sky, inspired by Rangi & Papa mythology, and a reference to heritage from the 1902 New Zealand flag.The black and blue represent night and dawn either side of the red earth.
image located
by Jonathan Dixon, 23 September 2015
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/2172
The preliminary results have just come through for the first New Zealand flag
referendum. The Kyle Lockwood blue-black-red design with the silver fern has
just got through with just over 50%, with the Kyle Lockwood red-white-blue
design coming second with just over 49% and Red Peak coming third place.
John Moody, 11 December 2015
From my personal vexillological perspective, I think that the design chosen to be put up against the current NZ National Flag is the best of the five proposed designs. My reasons for this are:
![[ NZ proposal ]](../images/q/qq-nz-fern.gif)
image by Kyle Lockwood,
14 March 2022
Over 6 years after the decision, we are still having demand and selling our
flags online, and the flags are also getting good airtime at sports matches and
other events such as the Commonwealth and Olympic games. We have also sold a
number of Rainbow Silver Fern Flags over the years too which have been spotted
at various Mardi Gras and other pride events in both New Zealand and Australia.
Kyle Lockwood, 14 March 2022
The people of New Zealand have spoken and voted to retain the current New
Zealand flag. The vote broke down to 1.2 million people voting to retain the
current New Zealand flag, or 56.6% of those who voted 915,000 voting for the
proposed new flag for New Zealand, or 43.1% of those who voted. The total of
valid votes were 2,119,953, informal votes reaching 4,942 and invalid votes
reaching 4,554. The voter turnout was 67.3%.
The high turnout shows that
there was great interest in this referendum by the New Zealand electorate. The
result was consistent with polls taken before the referendum, although the final
outcome was closer than a lot of people thought giving hope to those who want
New Zealand's flag to change in the future.
There were in my opinion five
broad groups voting in this referendum
(A) Those who liked the flag design
being proposed and voted for change.
(B) Those who didn't necessarily like
the design being proposed but wanted change anyway.
(C) Those who wanted to
change the flag but didn't like the proposed design and voted to keep the
current flag.
(D) Those who wanted to change the flag but voted to keep the
current flag so as to frustrate John Key.
(E) Those who wanted to keep the
current flag and voted for its retention.
So with three retention groups
arrayed against two change groups the result was predictable. Those who voted
against flag change but still favoured a new flag in the hope that they may get
another chance to vote on a new flag in the not too distant future were naive. I
think any talk of flag change for New Zealand is now at least 20 to 30 years
away, maybe longer. Those who voted against changing the flag because it was a
John Key initiative were being in my opinion spiteful and churlish. The Labour
party leader and leader of the opposition Andrew Little was being a rank
hypocrite in my opinion campaigning against changing the flag even though it is
the Labour Parties policy platform to change New Zealand's flag. This is in my
opinion because it was Prime Minister John Keys' initiative, so in short things
got politicised. Andrew Little said, "the party could offer another referendum
to change the flag in 10 to 15 years or after the Queen dies." Such is life we
move on.
John Moody, 26 March 2016
