Something Odd In The Coat of Arms
Something has long bothered me about the flag on the New Zealand Coat of Arms. To a 21st Century eye, the flag is the New Zealand national flag, and so represents us all: European, Maori, all New Zealanders. But what the Coat of Arms shows is a white woman bringing a New Zealand flag while a Maori chief simply looks on. Today this looks odd, possibly slightly racist, as if it is saying that “New Zealand” was brought and built by the European while Maori were simply bystanders. It seems to separate Maori from “New Zealand”, symbolising Maori alienation in the heart of a national symbol.
Thinking about this symbolism I was struck by the obvious. The people who devised the Flag and Coat of Arms in the 1860s-1900s did not deliberately set out to find a flag representing us all. The flag was invented because of the rules for British shipping and defense. It represented the New Zealand colony of the Empire, in amongst all the other colonies of Britain. So they thought of this flag, the New Zealand Ensign, as primarily a British flag. That is why it was carried by the European woman and not by both Maori and Pakeha together. We have, over the years, reinterpreted this British flag as representing all of us, but this was by default. We have never intentionally adopted a flag that represents us as a combined independent nation apart from the Empire.
So what should we do with that flag on the Coat of Arms? It depends on who we think we are, and who we think the woman and the chief represent. I think as New Zealanders we are represented by the Coat of Arms overall, and the parts if it represent various parts of our history. So the two people symbolise parts: the two 1840 Treaty partners that contributed together to produce this nation - Britain and Maori respectively.
They, and their Treaty under which many other New Zealanders came to this land, are parts of what make us up as New Zealanders, so it does make sense to have them as part of the Coat of Arms. Todays New Zealanders are in a symbolic sense their children: economically, politically, legally, culturally and, in many cases, biologically. In this context the woman could reasonably represent Britain by carrying a Union Jack, which is the flag the Treaty was signed on. However it would still make sense to keep the Ensign on the Coat of Arms if we go back to interpreting it primarily as a British Empire or Commonwealth flag. It would represent part of New Zealand. It would speak of the British contribution to our nation, balancing the Maori contribution. It would also honour those who served and fought under this flag on our behalf, as part of British Empire and Commonwealth forces.
But if we think of the Ensign as originally a British Empire flag where does that leave us? Without a distinctive flag of our own? I think we should fix things up. We are an independent South Pacific nation with a wonderful heritage, present, and future. Let us move forward and choose a new New Zealand national flag to represent us all.
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