Tino Rangatiratanga flag against sky 2024

The national Māori flag, also known as the Tino Rangatiratanga flag in reference to the concept of , is used to represent the

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

of some of the descendants of precolonial native people of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. In 2009, the Tino Rangatiratanga flag (also simply ''Tino'') was selected as the national

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 Co ...

flag after a nationwide consultation''.'' It was first revealed on

Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...

in 1990. Though it does not have official status from the

New Zealand Government The New Zealand Government () is the central government through which political authority is exercised in New Zealand. As in most other parliamentary democracies, the term "Government" refers chiefly to the executive branch, and more specifica ...

, it has been used by the government on official occasions.

Description

The national Māori flag uses the colours: black,

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

, and white or silver. Each of the colours references a realm in the creation story of

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

: black is ''Te Korekore'' (potential being), red is ''Te Whai Ao'' (coming into being), and white is ''Te Ao Mārama'' (the realm of being and light). The design features a ''

koru The is a spiral shape evoking a newly Circinate vernation, unfurling frond from a Cyathea dealbata, silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol in Māori people, Māori art, bone carving, carving and Tā moko, tattooing, where it symbolise ...

'' (Māori for fern frond), a common design in Māori tattoo and sculpture. It symbolises renewal and hope for the future. The white part of the flag is also a reference to the current Māori name for New Zealand:

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the Māori name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference only to the North Island, with the whole country being referred to as ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' – where ''Te Ika-a-Māui'' means N ...

, often translated as "Land of the Long White Cloud."

History

Creation

In 1989, the New Zealand government was preparing to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...

, a historical document between the British colonial government and the indigenous native tribes. In response to this celebration, several native independence organisations, including Te Kawariki, sought to raise awareness of the ways in which they believed the Treaty had been breached. Te Kawariki, inspired by the Australian Aboriginal flag, decided to hold a public contest for a design. However, they did not feel any of the contest submissions fitted what they were looking for. Artist Hiraina Marsden created her design, that was later sewed by Jan Smith, and Linda Munn and others of Te Kawariki. The artists consulted descendants of precolonial natives hui, Jan Smith and other members of Te Kawariki sewed the first Māori flag. The flag was first revealed to the public on 6 February,

, 1990. It quickly gained popularity among people who identify with Māori ethnicity. Tino rangatiratanga flag on Harbour Bridge

Use and recognition

A Māori advocacy group, Te Ata Tino Toa, applied for the national Māori flag to fly on the

Auckland Harbour Bridge The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins Saint Marys Bay, New Zealand, St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote, Auckland, Northcote on the North Shore, ...

beginning in 2008. Initially,

Transit New Zealand Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

, the government agency that was responsible for the bridge, declined on the basis that the flag did not represent a country recognised by the United Nations. After campaigning with a number of tactics, including lobbying

and Parliament, submissions to the Human Rights Commission, and holding an annual 'Fly the Flag' competition, the government agreed to fly a Māori flag provided that there was a consensus on which one to fly. A

Māori Party 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 Co ...

–led promotion and series of hui led to 1,200 submissions, with 80% of participants in favor of the ''Tino Rangatiratanga'' flag as the preferred Māori flag. On 14 December 2009, Prime Minister

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 from 2008 to 2016 and as leader of the National Party from 2006 to 2016. Following his father's death when ...

and Māori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples announced the flag would fly from the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other official buildings (such as

Premier House Premier House () is the official residence of the prime minister of New Zealand, located at 260 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, New Zealand, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand. A private house purchased for the prime minister's official residence when ...

) on Waitangi Day. Key explained that it would not replace the New Zealand flag but would fly alongside it, in recognition of the partnership that exists between the Crown and the descendants of precolonial natives since the Treaty of Waitangi, stating: "No changes are being made to the status of the New Zealand flag". The move was met with some criticism, with

Monarchy New Zealand Monarchy New Zealand is a national, non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote, support and defend the constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarchy of New Zealand. In addition to the general public, the organisat ...

describing the move as "potentially divisive", to which Key responded that it symbolised unity and improving race relations. In the

2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums Two referendums were held by the New Zealand Government in November/December 2015 and March 2016 to determine the nation's flag. The voting resulted in the retention of the existing flag of New Zealand. Shortly after the referendum announceme ...

, organisers approached the ''Tino Rangatiratanga'' flag designers about the possibility of including it as a candidate for a national flag, but the designers declined. The flag saw a significant uptick in popularity in 2025 as a result of the controversy surrounding the introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill.

Other Māori flags

File:Flag of New Zealand.svg, Flag of New Zealand File:Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.svg, United Tribes of New Zealand flag File:UnitedTribesUnofficial.svg, United Tribes of New Zealand flag (black

fimbriation In heraldry and vexillology, fimbriation is the placement of small stripes of contrasting colour around common charges or ordinaries, usually in order for them to stand out from the background, but often simply due to the designer's subjective ...

variant) File:Civil Ensign of New Zealand.svg, New Zealand Red Ensign File:NZ-Takitimu-Flag.svg, alt=A red flag with the Union Jack in the canton and the word "Takitimu" in large white letters across the bottom., Example of a New Zealand Red Ensign defaced with the name of an

Iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

File:Kotahitanga flag.svg, Most popular flag of the Kotahitanga movement File:Bastion Point Flag.svg, Bastion Point flag

New Zealand National Flag

The government of New Zealand continues to recognise the flag of New Zealand as the national symbol of both Māori and non-Māori citizens. According to the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, ''Tino Rangatiratanga'' should be flown in a way that "respects the status of the New Zealand flag as the symbol of the Realm, Government and people of New Zealand." When flying from different flag poles, protocol dictates the flags may be the same height. When flying from the same flag pole, the New Zealand national flag must fly on top. It was one of the three other flags considered in the public hui in 2009, along with the United Tribes of New Zealand flag and the Red Ensign. Combined, the three received fewer than a fifth of the public votes.

United Tribes of New Zealand Flag

The flag of the

United Tribes of New Zealand The United Tribes of New Zealand () was a confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island, existing legally from 1835 to 1840. It received diplomatic recognition from the United Kingdom, which shortly thereafter proclaimed ...

(Māori: ''Te Kara'') is a flag selected by a confederation of Māori leaders on 20 March 1834 from among three designs created by British missionary Henry Williams. At the time it was selected, New Zealand was not a colony of the British crown and it was considered the flag of New Zealand. Only later, when the nation became a British colony and the

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

its official flag, did this flag become known as the flag of the United Tribes. Though it received few votes in the 2009 hui to select a flag, it had support from a few vocal Māori leaders.

Red Ensign

The Red Ensign is a variant of the New Zealand national flag initially created for use by merchant vessels. Historically Māori have preferred this variant, often flying it rather than the blue ensign at places and occasions of particular Māori significance, and often defacing it with names or symbols of their social groups. The Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act of 1981 grants Māori the leave to continue this tradition. It was one of the four flags put to vote in the 2009 public hui.

Kotahitanga flag

A kotahitanga flag is one of any flag designs associated with kotahitanga (English: oneness), a term associated with movements for Māori self-governance beginning in the 1830s. Flags for the movement began appearing in the 1980s and were flown at demonstrations, particularly on Waitangi Day. The most common flag was designed by Norman Te Whata and features a circle, off-centre to hoist, with a '' mere'' crossed by a scroll representing the

, with the word "Kotahitanga" above it.

Bastion Point Flag

The Bastion Point flag is a protest flag created by Māori demonstrators to protest New Zealand's decision to sell the

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

region of

Bastion Point Takaparawhau / Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Ōrākei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitematā Harbour. The area is significant in New Zealand history as the site of protests in the late 1970s by Māori against forced ...

(Māori:''Takaparawha'') in 1977. The flag was used during the 506 day occupation of the land by protestors. It features a ''mangopare'' (hammerhead shark) design, representing tenacity. The white of the design references the purity of

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei or Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei is an Auckland-based Māori hapū (sub-tribe) in New Zealand. Together with Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa and Te Taoū, it comprises the iwi (tribe) of Ngāti Whātua. These four hapū can act togeth ...

, the

hapū In Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief ...

, or sub-tribe, behind the movement. The flag was designed by politician Joe Hawke. It has since been used to memorialise the event and represent other Māori struggles for independence and equality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maori flag

National symbols of New Zealand Māori flags