image by Dean Thomas, 15 October 2005
Last modified: 2013-06-15 by ian macdonald
Keywords: new zealand | proposal | north island | southern cross (white) | stars: southern cross (white) | te ika a maui |
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image by Dean Thomas, 15 October 2005
This is the flag I designed earlier this year as an imagined flag for
New Zealand's North Island. There had been some debate about New
Zealand competing in various events like the Commonwealth Games around
the same time as Australians mulled competing as separate states in
similar events. I used red as the basic color for the flag to
represent both the volcanic origins of the island and the color sacred
to the Maori and the British Empire. The white lower stripe represents
Aotearoa (the Long White Cloud) which is the Maori name for New
Zealand. The inscription 'Te Ika A Maui' is the Maori name for the
North Island and copies several Maori flags that bore similar
inscriptions. The New Zealand Red Ensign was chosen for the canton as
to blend into the red background, as well as to represent what nation
the North Island belongs to.
Dean Thomas, 15 October 2005
Te Ika A Maui means "The fish of Maui". Legend has it that the great Polynesian explorer Maui caught a
giant fish, which he wrestled to the surface of the ocean, where it
becme the North Island, with its head in the south, its tail in the
north, and Maui's hook caught in its left side. Oddly, the North
Island is shaped very roughly like a fish, and Hawke Bay on the east
coast is shaped almost exactly like a traditional Maori fish hook.
James Dignan, 15 October 2005
