When James Busby arrived as British Resident in 1833, he suggested that a New Zealand flag be adopted. Aside from solving the problems with trans-Tasman trade, Busby also saw the flag as a way of encouraging Māori chiefs to work together, paving the way for some form of collective government.
On 20 March 1834, 25 chiefs from the Far North and their followers gathered at Waitangi to choose a flag from three designed by Rev Henry Williams, a senior missionary of the Church Missionary Society and former lieutenant of the Royal Navy.
Busby sent the following account of the selection of the flag to Governor Bourke in New South Wales on 22 March 1834:
“They were then asked in regular succession upon which of the three Flags their choice fell, and their votes were taken down by a son of one of their number who has been educated by the Missionaries, and who with several others appeared on this occasion respectably dressed in European clothing.
I was glad to observe that they gave their votes freely, and appeared to have a good understanding of the nature of the proceeding. The votes given for the respective Flags were 3, 10 & 12, and the greatest number having proved in favour of the Flag previously adopted by the Missionaries it was declared to be the National Flag of New Zealand, and having been immediately hoisted on the Flag staff was saluted with 21 guns by the Ship of war.”1
The flag was also adopted as the Flag of the Independent Tribes of New Zealand2, and served as the official flag of New Zealand until the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840 when it was replaced with the British flag, the Union Jack.
1 Busby to Governor, 22 March 1834, CO 209/1, Australian Joint Copying Project, Public Record Office, London. Archives New Zealand/Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga O Aotearoa Head Office, Wellington.
2 McLintock, A H editor (1966) An Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Last modified: 15/07/2009