Symbolically, little reflects more the character and nature of a nation and its people than its national flag. It articulates the core defining attributes of a given population, and often encapsulates elements that reflect the nature of a nation's landscape, heritage, and key historical events that have moulded and shaped
Sam Clements: Fly a flag for our future and past
Subscribe to listen
Many argue that the NZ flag gets lost in the sea of sameness. Photo / NZ Herald
Our nation possesses an indelibly strong Anglo-Saxon heritage, with early British settlers having contributed enormously to the building of a nation and the establishment of nationhood. This period was not without bloodshed, nor without ignominy, as evidenced in the many injustices committed against Maori. Yet our flag, containing the symbol of the Union Jack, importantly reminds us of our foundational links between the British crown and Maori, which remain core to our national identity as New Zealanders.
While today we are an ever-increasingly culturally and ethnically diverse nation, maintaining symbolic representation of the richness of our foundational history is of great importance. The rich royal blue background serves emblematically to represent our seas and sky, while the southern cross denotes the location of our southern Pacific home.
The Prime Minister's proposed silver fern upon a black background is an already well recognised design most commonly associated with the sporting uniforms of the All Blacks, Silver Ferns, and the Black Caps, and appears on the coat of arms. By World War I, it had become the predominant badge upon New Zealand Army uniforms. Fernleaf butter is instantly recognisable upon supermarket shelves across the globe. The underside of the silver fern glows brightly in the moonlight, providing excellent guidance in our native forests, and symbolically representing the concept of leading the way, or the symbolic appearance of lit pathways in periods of darkness. It perhaps is also reflective of the shining pathways famous New Zealanders past and present have trodden, leading the way for others through their drive, determination, and internationally distinctive and exceptional giftedness: think Earnest Rutherford, Kate Sheppard, Edmund Hillary, Eleanor Catton, and Lorde.
Yet do these factors warrant the changing of our current flag to this design?
We proudly and freely live as an independent nation, with many highly gifted, entrepreneurial, creative, and world-leading citizens who have proudly flown our national flag for over 100 years. Let us debate this issue as a nation with caution and care.
• Sam Clements is a lifetime inductee of international honour society Beta Gamma Sigma.
Debate on this article is now closed.