The flag of Norfolk Island is a triband consisting of green, white, and green bands charged with a green

Norfolk Island pine ''Araucaria heterophylla'' (synonym ''A. excelsa'') is a species of conifer. As its vernacular name Norfolk Island pine (or Norfolk pine) implies, the tree is endemic to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific ...

in the centre. Adopted in 1979 when the islands gained limited

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

, it has been the flag of the Territory of

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together wit ...

since 6 June of that year. The pine is native to the territory and is its official tree.

History

was first sighted by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

in 1774 during his second voyage to the southern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. Settlers moved to the island in March 1788, when it was claimed by the

colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of ...

. Cook surmised that the

(''Araucaria heterophylla'') could be utilised for the masts of ships, but his prediction ultimately did not come to fruition. The island was initially employed as a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

until 1814, and again from 1825 to 1855. It was then used in 1856 to relocate people from the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...

, which had become overpopulated, and Norfolk Island was consequently designated "a distinct and separate settlement" from

mainland Australia Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other Australian offshore islands. The landmass also constitutes the mainland of the territory governed by the Commonw ...

on 24 June of the same year. It later lost its self-governing status in 1897, when the British placed the territory under the administration of the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...

. The island joined the now-independent

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

as a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

under the ''Norfolk Island Act 1913''. However, its exact constitutional relationship with the rest of the commonwealth was not enunciated at the time. A royal commission was established in 1975 to resolve Norfolk Island's constitutional status. Four years later, the territory was granted its own legislative assembly, but remained unrepresented in the Federal Parliament. The

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

that became the ''Norfolk Island Flag and Public Seal Act 1979'' was introduced to the Australian Parliament that same year and received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on 17 January 1980.

Design

Description

The flag of Norfolk Island is described in detail in ''Norfolk Island Flag and Public Seal Act 1979'', federal legislation that has been in force from 17 January 1980. It specifies the flag is to have an aspect ratio of 1:2. The official colour scheme follows approximately the

Pantone Matching System Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic ...

as indicated below. The colour numbers for the flag's white shade are not specified.

Symbolism

The colours and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The green symbolises Norfolk Island's plentiful vegetation and fertile land. The Norfolk Island pine is native to the islands, and is the official tree of the territory.

Similarities

The Norfolk Islander flag bears a likeness to the

flag of Canada The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...

. Both banners employ only two colours and feature a regional arboreal symbol in the middle band. Is also similar to the flag of

Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also meets La Pampa Provinc ...

. Both banners employ only two colours and feature an

araucaria ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 20 extant species in New Caledonia (where 14 species are endemic, see New Caledonian ''Araucaria ...

n tree. Norfolk Island's flag is also analogous to the

flag of Nigeria Work toward freedom led to the formation of a national planning committee, which in 1958 named for a competition to choose a national flag. Thousands of designs were submitted, but the flag of equivalent green-white-green flat stripes, green ...

, which utilises a triband of green and white in a similar fashion.

References

Specific Bibliography *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norfolk Island, Flag of 1979 establishments in Australia Flags introduced in 1979 Flags of Australia

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

Flags of Australian states and territories