Evolution of New Zealand Flag

At that time, the flag of New Zealand was the British flag.

The New Zealand flag first appeared as a design idea when designing the symbol of the New Zealand nautical flag, and it has become the earliest prototype of the current national flag.

Two years later, on1October 23rd, 1869, 10, the word "NZ" on the New Zealand navigation flag was surrounded by a white disc background, replacing four red star constellations. The New Zealand nautical flag can only be used on government ships at sea, not inland. 1899, the New Zealand nautical flag removed the original white disc background color of the Southern Cross, and placed the four stars representing the Southern Cross in half on the right side of the flag surface.

1902 On March 24th, King Edward VII of England approved the New Zealand Flag Act (1907, which became a British dominion, with politics, economy and diplomacy under British control). On June 12, the New Zealand government announced that it would replace the British flag with the Southern Cross flag, which was originally a navigation flag. In order to get rid of colonial traces, New Zealand has been trying to replace the Miqi flag in recent decades, and has been actively promoting the replacement of the flag since New Zealand Prime Minister John Key took office. There is a heated debate on this issue in New Zealand. Those who advocate changing the national flag believe that the current national flag of New Zealand has British colonial characteristics and is easily confused with the Australian flag, so it should be replaced with a new national flag with its own characteristics. Opponents believe that the national flag referendum is costly, which is expected to reach 26 million New Zealand dollars (about RMB1.1.200 million yuan), increasing the burden on taxpayers.

September 1 New Media Specialist (Reporter Su Liang) On September 1 Day, the Committee responsible for replacing the New Zealand national flag announced four alternative national flag schemes, three of which were designed with the pattern of silver fern leaves as the main body.

With the appearance of a national flag pattern named "Red Mountain Peak", the New Zealand Parliament revised the previously announced national flag candidate rules and added the pattern as an exception to the candidate list, increasing the number of national flag candidates in New Zealand to five.

20 15 12 14 the new Zealand election commission said that the preliminary vote count results showed that among the five alternative flag schemes, the design with silver fern leaves and southern cross as the pattern and black, white and blue colors was the most popular.

The second referendum in New Zealand began on March 3, 20 16. Voters answered the question "Which flag do you choose as the flag of New Zealand" by email. Voters can tick the current flag and the alternate flag. The alternative was selected in the first referendum held from last year1October 20th 165438+ to February 20th 1 1.

20 16 On March 24th, the New Zealand Election Commission announced the preliminary results of the second referendum on changing the national flag on the evening of 24th local time. The voting results show that 56.6% of voters support the current national flag.

The Election Committee * * * won more than 210.2 million votes, with a turnout rate of 67.3%. Black-and-white and blue color matching, the alternative national flag scheme with silver fern leaves and red Southern Cross as the main design patterns won the support of 43.2% voters. The official results will be announced on 30th 17. John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, said earlier that no matter what the final result is, the enthusiastic participation of the people reflects the rationality of the government's promotion of the process of changing the national flag.

The New Zealand Election Commission announced the final result of the referendum on March 30, 20 16. The results show that the New Zealand flag with English herringbone pattern is supported by 56.6% of voters, while the alternative flag scheme with black, white and blue colors and silver fern leaves and red southern cross as the main design patterns is supported by 42.3% of voters. More than half of the citizens choose to keep the current New Zealand flag. The alternative logo scheme failed to "shake" the existing logo.