Flag of the Governor-General of New Zealand
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The Flag of the Governor-General of New Zealand is an official flag of New Zealand and is flown continuously in the presence of the Governor-General of New Zealand.
On 1931 the Governor-General adopted a new flag for personal use in New Zealand, but not flown immediately because Governor-General Lord Bledisloe preferred the old design, which featured the Union Flag. The flag has a 1:2 ratio, the flag consists of the Royal Crest (a crowned lion standing on a St Edward's Crown) in gold, red, white and green on a royal blue ground, and the words New Zealand in dark blue letters on a gold scroll below the Crest. This design is uniform throughout the throughout the Commonwealth.
The flag is flown continuously wherever the Governor-General is present, and on such occasions takes precedence over the takes precedence over the National Flag, but not over the Queen's Personal New Zealand Flag.
It is flown continuously over Government House when the Governor-General is in residence, and on vehicles used by the Governor-General on official occasions.
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[edit] History
[edit] New Zealand a self-governing colony
In 1869 the Admiralty directed that "Governors ...administering the Governments of British Colonies and Dependencies be authorised to fly the Union Jack, with the Arms or Badge of the Colony emblazoned in the centre thereof"[1]. There was at the time no colonial badge for New Zealand.
Accordingly in October 1869 the decision was made to including a Jack with the "Southern Cross, as represented in the Blue Ensign by four five-pointed red stars in the fly, with white borders to correspond to the colouring of the Jack; in the Jack by four five-pointed white stars on the red ground of the St George's Cross; and in the pendant by four stars near the staff similar to those in the Ensign"[2].
In October 1874 Sir James Fergusson announced that, "... that the seal or badge to be worn in the Union Jack used by the Governor of New Zealand when embarked in any boat or other vessel shall be the Southern Cross as represented by four five-pointed red stars emblazoned on the white shield aforesaid, and the monogram NZ in red letters in the centre of the Southern Cross.[3]
Succeeding Governors found it convenient to use this flag on shore and it became accepted as the official vice-regal flag.
[edit] New Zealand as dominion and, later, realm
In 1907 New Zealand's status was officially transformed from self-governing colony to dominion. To mark the transition to independence, the New Zealand Government requested that the garland of laurels on the Governor’s flag should be replaced by one of fern leaves, the fern leaf was already recognised as one of New Zealand's national symbols.
In a letter of 5 January 1908 the Governor requested that the garland around the badge on his flag be changed from the usual green laurel leaves to a garland of fern leaves, and referred to the garland of maple leaves surrounding the badge on the Flag of the Governor General of Canada as a precedent. This was approved without hesitation, since the regulations only stipulated that the device on the flags of Governors should be surrounded by a “green garland”. The type of leaves was not specified.
In January 1931 the present flag of the Governor-General was introduced, to reflect the Balfour Declaration of 1926 whereby the Governor General was now the representative of the monarch in the Dominion of New Zealand, rather than a representative of the British government. The New Zealand badge was replaced by the Royal Crest in full colour. The words “Dominion of New Zealand” were displayed on a gold scroll beneath the badge.
As neither Governor-General Lord Bledisloe nor his ministers were sympathetic to the change, the old flag was retained, and the new flag was not flown until after Lord Galway's arrival.
The gold scroll beneath the crest formerly contained the style “Dominion of New Zealand”. This was changed to “New Zealand ” in around 1953, after the term 'Dominion' was replaced officially with the term "Realm of New Zealand".
[edit] References
- ^ Order in Council of 7th August 1869
- ^ New Zealand Gazette: Saturday October 23 1869.
- ^ New Zealand Gazette. Thursday October 29th 1874
- Governor-General. Flags of the World. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
- The Governor-General's Standards. Encyclopedia of New Zealand (1966). Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
[edit] See also
- List of New Zealand flags
- Queen's Personal New Zealand Flag
- Flag of the Governor-General of Australia
- Flag of the Governor General of Canada
| Flags of New Zealand |  |
|
| New Zealand |  New Zealand Flag |  Royal Standard |  Governor-General's Flag |
|
|---|---|---|
| Associated states |  Cook Islands |  Niue |
|
| Ensigns |  New Zealand Red Ensign|  Royal New Zealand Navy|  Royal New Zealand Air Force |
|
 New Zealand Civil Air Ensign |  New Zealand Police| |
||
