New Zealand heraldry is the term for the style of armorial achievements, sometimes known as coats of arms, and other

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

bearings and insignia used in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It largely follows the Gallo-British tradition of heraldry also followed in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and Australia. Most grants of heraldic arms to New Zealand residents or institutions have been made by the English

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

or the Scottish Court of the Lord Lyon, though a small number have also been granted by the

Chief Herald of Ireland The Genealogical Office is an office of the Government of Ireland containing genealogical records. It includes the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland ( ga, Príomh Aralt na hÉireann), the authority in Ireland for heraldry. The Chief Herald ...

and the State Herald of South Africa.

Heraldic authority

New Zealand does not presently have its own independent heraldic authority which grants or records arms, though the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

claims to be "the official heraldic authority for...New Zealand". According to the guidelines of the Cabinet Manual, the College has been delegated these responsibilities by the Sovereign of New Zealand in their capacity as the " Fount of all Honour". However, the legal basis for this "official" status for the College of Arms is disputed. On 6 February 1978 Queen Elizabeth II established the New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary as the

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve a ...

responsible for advising the Crown, New Zealand government and

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; mi, Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa, "Line of Defence of New Zealand") are the armed forces of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and her realm, prom ...

on heraldic matters, and for liaising between New Zealand and the English College of Arms. Although affiliated with the College of Arms, the New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary lives and works in New Zealand, and is not a member of the College Chapter. The current New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary is Phillip Patrick O’Shea.

Coats of arms

The heraldry of New Zealand has added indigenous animals (mostly birds) to the existing heraldic

bestiary A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history ...

, along with native flora and traditional Māori motifs.

National arms

File:Coat of arms of New Zealand.svg, Coat of arms of New Zealand (1956-Present) File:Arms of New Zealand.svg, Coat of arms of New Zealand, escutcheon only File:Coat of arms of New Zealand (1911–1956).svg, Coat of arms of New Zealand (1911–1956)

Civic arms

Some, but not all,

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in New Zealand use heraldic arms. The arms of the capital,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, combines the arms of Aurthur Wellesley, 1st

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

with the national coat of arms. The coat of arms of the City of Christchurch also have charges from the national arms.

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, the largest city in New Zealand, does not currently use any arms. The unauthorised use of a coat of arms of a local authority can be an offense. File:Hamilton city coa n10422.gif, Coat of arms of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

File:Napier coa.jpg, Coat of arms of Napier File:Whanganui, New Zealand (51).JPG, Coat of arms of

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

File:Lower Hutt COA.jpg, Coat of arms of Lower Hutt File:Porirua CoA.jpg, Coat of arms of Porirua File:Wellington Coat Of Arms.svg, Coat of arms of

File:Nelsoncitycouncil-council-crest.jpg, Coat of arms of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

File:Chch COA.JPG, Coat of arms of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

File:Dunedin city coa.gif, Coat of arms of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

File:Invercargill Coat of Arms.jpg, Coat of arms of

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

Arms of former local authorities

File:Coat of arms of Auckland.svg, Coat of arms of Auckland City File:Manukau COA.png, Coat of arms of

Manukau City Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...

File:Waitakere city coat of arms.JPG, Coat of arms of

Waitakere City Waitākere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitākere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was ...

Personal arms

File:Arms of Phillip O'Shea.svg, Coat of arms of New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary Phillip O'Shea File:Arms of Patsy Reddy.jpg, Coat of arms of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy File:Jerry Mateparae arms.png, Coat of arms of former Governor-General

Sir Jerry Mateparae Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae (born 14 November 1954) is a former New Zealand soldier who served as the 20th Governor-General of New Zealand between 2011 and 2016, the second Māori person to hold the office, after Sir Paul Reeves ...

File:Michael Hardie Boys Arms.svg, Coat of arms of former Governor-General

Sir Michael Hardie Boys Sir Michael Hardie Boys, (born 6 October 1931) is a New Zealand retired lawyer, judge, and jurist who served as the 17th Governor-General of New Zealand, in office from 1996 to 2001. Early life and family Hardie Boys was born in 1931 in Well ...

File:Catherine Tizard Arms.svg, Coat of arms of former Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard File:Keith Holyoake Arms.svg, Coat of arms of former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and Governor-General

Sir Keith Holyoake Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, (; 11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was the List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand, 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also the List of Governors ...

File:Edmund Hillary detail, Armoural letters patent (AM 2014.7.17-4) (cropped).jpg, Coat of arms of mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist

Sir Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropy, philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became th ...

File:Ernest Rutherford Arms.svg, Coat of arms of physicist Lord Ernest Rutherford

Corporate/Institutional arms

Some New Zealand corporations and institutions have their own coats-of-arms, including several

New Zealand universities This is a list of the University, universities in New Zealand, of which there are eight. Many of the universities are descended from the former University of New Zealand, a collegiate university that existed from 1870 to 1961. In 2013, the unive ...

such as

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, Massey University, the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

, and the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

. File:Coat of Arms of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.svg, Coat of arms of the

Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...

File:New Zealand Herald Arms.svg, Coat of arms of

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 newspaper ...

newspaper File:BNZ Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Bank of New Zealand File:Arms of the University of Otago.svg, Coat of arms of the University of Otago File:Coat of Arms of Massey University.svg, Coat of arms of Massey University File:IPENZ-Crest.jpg, Coat of arms of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers File:Heraldry Society of New Zealand Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Heraldry Society of New Zealand

Ecclesiastical arms

Angl-NZ-Auckland-Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Anglican dioceses of

Angl-NZ-Wellington-Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Anglican dioceses of

Angl-NZ-Christchurch-Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Anglican dioceses of

Angl-NZ-Dunedin-Arms.svg, Coat of arms of the Anglican dioceses of

File:Coat of arms of John Atcherley Dew.svg, Coat of arms of Cardinal John Dew, present Roman Catholic

Archbishop of Wellington The Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington is the Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 (2006 census). Parishes number 22 and the archdiocese extends over central New Zealand between Levin and Masterton i ...

File:Coat of arms of Thomas Stafford Williams.svg, Coat of arms of Thomas Williams, cardinal and

archbishop emeritus In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the Chu ...

of Wellington

Badges and crests

File:Badge of the New Zealand Herald Extraordinary.svg,

Badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and ...

of the New Zealand Herald Extraordinary File:Heraldic Badge of a Member of the Order of New Zealand.svg, Badge of the Order of New Zealand File:House of Representatives crest.png,

Crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

of the New Zealand House of Representatives File:New Zealand Army Logo.png, Crest of the New Zealand Army File:New Zealand Air Training Corps.png, Crest of the

New Zealand Air Training Corps The New Zealand Air Training Corps (also known as Air Cadets and ATC) is one of the three corps in the New Zealand Cadet Forces, the other two being the Sea Cadet Corps and New Zealand Cadet Corps. It is funded in partnership between the RNZAF ...

Heraldry of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau

The other countries of the

Realm of New Zealand The Realm of New Zealand consists of the entire area in which the monarch of New Zealand functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation; it is a collection of states and territories united under its monarch. New Zealand is an indep ...

, the

associated state An associated state is the minor partner in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some dependent, most fully sovereign states) and a major party—usually a larger nation. The details of such free association are contain ...

s of the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

and the dependent territory of

Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...

, have their own heraldic emblems. The Cook Islands has their own armorial bearings (coat of arms) using unique local elements, since 2021 Niue has had a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

based on traditional Niuean elements (replacing their previous one based on the New Zealand coat of arms), while Tokelau has a

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and ...

based on a traditional Tokelauan ''tuluma''. File:Coat of arms of the Cook Islands.svg,

Coat of arms of the Cook Islands The coat of arms of the Cook Islands has a escutcheon (heraldry), shield as its focal point. The shield is blue with fifteen white Star (heraldry), stars arranged in a circle, as found on the Flag of the Cook Islands, national flag, and is support ...

File:Public Seal of Niue (1974–2021).svg, The public seal of Niue (1974–2021) File:Public Seal of Niue.svg, The public seal of Niue (since 2021) File:Badge of Tokelau.svg, The national badge of Tokelau

Heraldry Society

Heraldry is also discussed and studied by The Heraldry Society of New Zealand, a learned society under the patronage of the governor-general. The society publishes ''The New Zealand Armorist''. Its homepage is called Onward.

References

External Links

Onward - The Heraldry Society of New Zealand Inc.The College of ArmsOfficial Website of the Herald of Arms Extraordinary (New Zealand Government)Cabinet Manual
on heraldry
New Zealand Heraldry
on

Heraldry of the World Heraldry of the World (HOTW or Heraldry-wiki.com; formerly NGW, for the original Dutch name Nederlandse GemeenteWapens (Dutch civic heraldry)) is an Internet-based heraldic resource. Its principal project is the Internet's largest website devote ...

Cook Island Heraldry
on Heraldry of the World
Niuean Heraldry
on Heraldry of the World
Tokelauan Heraldry
on Heraldry of the World {{Heraldry by country New Zealand heraldry New Zealand culture Heraldry by country