Flags of New Zealand
THE UNITED TRIBES FLAG
New Zealand’s first flag was an initiative of British Resident James Busby after an unregistered New Zealand ship was seized in Australia. A selection of three or four designs was sent from Australia, and chiefs chose one at a meeting on March 20, 1834. The flag was of a St George's Cross with another cross in the canton containing four stars on a blue field.
THE BRITISH UNION JACK FLAG
After the treaty was signed (1840), the British Union Jack flag became the de facto flag of the colony of New Zealand.
THE NEW ZEALAND FLAG
The current flag was designed and adopted for restricted use in 1869 and became the national flag in 1902.
Courtesy: https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/the-new-zealand-flag
TINO RANGATIRATANGA FLAG
The Maori Independence (Tino Rangatiratanga) movement’s flag. The flag is black over white over red, with the thin white stripe being broken by a circular — almost spiral — pattern towards the hoist. It was designed in 1990 by Hiraina Marsden, Jan Smith and Linda Munn, and was the winning design in a national contest to find a “Maori Flag”.
Labour Maori-affairs spokesman Dover Samuels said that the red, black and white flag was not the Maori flag but rather a symbol for Maoris who believed New Zealand was a sovereign Maori state.
Michael Wang, 4 February 1998