Lockwood Silver Fern Flag over Wellington

The black, white and blue silver fern flag is a proposed flag for New Zealand by architectural designer

Kyle Lockwood Kyle Simon Lockwood JP (born 1977) is a New Zealand architectural designer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is known for leading the successful campaign for the Government of New Zealand to reintroduce the duration of the New Zealand passport ...

. It was first designed using different colours in 2000. It was voted as the preferred alternative New Zealand flag in the first of two New Zealand flag referendums in December 2015, and was used in the second flag referendum in a binding contest against the current New Zealand flag. Despite a UMR poll predicting that the flag would earn only 35% of the vote, the Silver Fern Flag gained a significant minority in the March 2016 referendum with 43.2% of the vote, whilst the existing flag won with 56.6% of the vote.

Design and symbolism

The design of the flag combines the

silver fern flag A silver fern flag is any flag design that incorporates a silver fern, and is usually a white silver fern on a black background. The silver fern motif is associated with New Zealand, and a silver fern flag may be used as an unofficial flag of N ...

(toward the hoist) with the stars of the current national flag. The

silver fern ''Alsophila dealbata'', synonym ''Cyathea dealbata'', commonly known as the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga or punga (from Māori or ),The Māori word , pronounced , has been borrowed into New Zealand English as a generic term fo ...

frond is a popular symbol of the people of New Zealand, while the stellar constellation known as the

southern cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

represents the

antipodean In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...

location of the country in the Southern Hemisphere. The multiple pinnates on the silver fern leaf represent New Zealand's multicultural society, a single fern spreading upwards representing one people growing into the future. Black, white, and red are the

national colours of New Zealand The national colours of New Zealand orders include black, white or silver, and red ochre. History The national flag of New Zealand is predominantly dark blue and represents the sea and sky. In the top left corner is the union flag with the colours ...

traditionally associated with the

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

; while blue is dominant in the current national flag and symbolises the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

History

File:Silver Fern flag original sketch.png, Kyle Lockwood's original Silver fern flag sketch from 2000 File:Kyle Lockwood's New Zealand Flag.svg, Kyle Lockwood's prototype Silver fern flag which won a newspaper competition in 2004 File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Black, White & Blue) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, The official Preferred Alternative New Zealand Flag voted by New Zealand in the first flag referendum The original 2000 sketch design used black in the upper left corner, and the first prototype design used red in the upper left corner, and a darker shade of blue for the main part of the flag. The blue represented the ocean, the red represented Māori and also sacrifices during wartime, and the white of the fern is a reference to the "Land of the Long White Cloud" (translated from the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...

"). This design was first published by Lockwood in 2003, and won a competition in July 2004 run by ''

The Hutt News ''The Hutt News'' is a community newspaper circulated in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is one of the earliest and longest running community newspapers in the country. History The paper was established in 1927 by Walter Harold Smith, a retired far ...

''. The flag appeared on ''

Campbell Live ''Campbell Live'' is a half-hour-long New Zealand current affairs programme that aired at 7pm (following 3 News) on TV3 and was hosted by John Campbell. ''Campbell Live'' conducted interviews of various notable personalities, including Al Go ...

'' in 2004 and won an online poll that included the present national flag. Lockwood has produced the flag in several of colour combinations and designs, including more and fewer fern fronds. Some New Zealanders believe that the current New Zealand flag is a reminder of British

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

and does not truly represent their culture; however, those who support the current flag say that it represents the history of the country as a part of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

and location in the Southern Hemisphere. Lockwood's winning entry in the New Zealand flag referendum had black instead of red, and a brighter shade of blue. This design is

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...

's preferred proposal. The original red design was criticised on aesthetic grounds by

Hamish Keith Hamish Henry Cordy Keith (born 15 August 1936) is a New Zealand writer, art curator, arts consultant and social commentator. Introduction Keith has been writing about and working with the arts in New Zealand for almost half a century. He has ...

, Paul Henry and

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

. ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' writer Karl Puschmann called it a design for those "sitting on the fence" who didn't want much change. Members of the public had also compared it unfavourably to

Weet-Bix Weet-Bix is a whole-grain wheat breakfast cereal created and manufactured in Australia and New Zealand by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, and in South Africa by Bokomo. History Weet-Bix was developed by Bennison Osborne in Sydney, Aust ...

packaging, or a merger of the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and National party logos. It was also likened to the design of a beach towel. However, Lockwood pointed out that most national flags were made into beach towels. The

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

s 3 Squadron complained that the flag was a copyright violation of their 2010 insignia until the Air Force discovered that Lockwood's flag preceded their insignia by many years. Sir Richard Hadlee and Lockwood silver fern flag

Sir Richard Hadlee and Lockwood silver fern flag

Prominent New Zealanders, including former Governor General Dame

Catherine Tizard Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first ...

, All Black

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

, Olympian Ian Fergusson, cricketing great

Sir Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1980 ...

, Olympic athlete Sir Peter Snell,

Mahe Drysdale Mahe, Mahé, Mähe, or MAHE may refer to: Places China * Mahe Township (, lit. "Horse Creek Village") in Li County, Gansu, Li County in Gansu Estonia * Mähe, a subdistrict of Tallinn, Estonia India * Mahé, India, a municipality ...

, and former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

captain

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...

came out in support of the alternative design. After the

2015 Rugby World Cup final The 2015 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match to determine the winner of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, played between reigning champions New Zealand and their rivals Australia on 31 October 2015 at Twickenham Stadium in London. New Zealand ...

between Australia and New Zealand in Twickenham, England, Richie McCaw said "Running out at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

and seeing the two flags looking so similar. The silver fern has always been the special symbol on the All Black jersey that represents who we are as kiwis, so the new flag with a silver fern as a part of it would be a great option I believe." On the subject of flag change Dame Cath Tizard said "We don't wear the clothes of a century ago or drive around today in Model T Fords. Our present flag served a young post-colonial country well, but the time has come to consider a change which more appropriately recognises our changed identity and confidence in ourselves." After the second referendum, the flag continued to make appearances in the International media. In the first New Zealand cricket test against Zimbabwe on 28 July 2016, the flag was featured in the opening graphics sequence, The flag is also seen flying from flagpoles around New Zealand,

Kip Colvey Kip Warren Colvey II (born 15 March 1994) is a New Zealand former professional footballer. He last played for Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer. Early life Colvey was born in Hawaii, but grew up in the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. ...

a prominent US/NZ football player, appeared in Fairfax media on 26 December 2016, in front of the flag. Lockwood's silver fern design features in the livery of the 'Electron' rocket in Rocket Lab's New Zealand space program, The first Electron rocket was scheduled to launch in late 2016. The silver fern design will also feature in the

Orewa Orewa is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. It lies on the Hibiscus Coast, just north of the base of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, Whangaparāoa Peninsula and 40 kilometres north of central Auckland. It is a popular holiday destin ...

Walk of Fame in Auckland which was scheduled to be dedicated in September 2016.

Versions

Five versions of Lockwood's flag were included in the Flag Consideration Panel's long list for the referendums. Two of them, the original red, white and blue and the winning black, white and blue versions, reached the short list of four (later five) flags. File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Red, White & Blue) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, Silver Fern (Red, White and Blue) (shortlisted) File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Black, White & Red) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, Silver Fern (Black, White and Red) File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Black, White & Blue) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, Silver Fern (Black, White and Blue) (shortlisted) File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Black with Red Stars) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, Silver Fern (Black with Red Stars) File:NZ flag design Silver Fern (Black & White) by Kyle Lockwood.svg, Silver Fern (Black & White)

Service flags with the Lockwood silver fern flag

New service flags were proposed for New Zealand following the Lockwood Silver Fern Flag. The option of changing these flags was not, however, included in the referendum.

References

External links