14.05 Hawke's Bay: National Identity and National Colours

5.A Saffron Clouds over Hawke Bay at Sunset, 27 November 2014, Seen from the Napier Promenade

'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven' (Eccl 3:1). That's a Biblical perspective that can give one pause at any time. The verse came to mind when I reviewed the photo above, taken on the walk Jean and I took following our Thanksgiving dinner this past Thursday. For the record, Kiwis don't yet have a thanksgiving day in the national calendar. And if they did it wouldn't come in the spring, presumably, but sometime in the austral autumn, which in New Zealand might well place such a holiday in, say, May or June, when the harvests are well along or even complete. All of which is a back-handed way of saying that we observed Thanksgiving out of season and out of place this year. Yet thanksgiving was due (It's always due).

In a foreign land perhaps because of one's own displacement one can't but notice what's out of place and what's in place. What's in place is what helps identify a place. And what's out of place is—what else?—foreign and perhaps undesirable.

An instance of the out-of-place became evident this past Monday here in the Hawke's Bay Region. A proposal emanated in Hastings, the large nearby town south of Napier. The proposal, which made the front-page headline of the print edition of Hawke's Bay Today, was to form an 'Islamic State of Aotearoa' in the Hawke's Bay Region. The newspaper story didn't clarify whether the proponent of the idea had some specific locale in mind or whether the new state would be more a community of mind than a polity in place. The newspaper report did make clear that the mayor of Hastings didn't regard the Islamic State idea as having any place in New Zealand. Undoubtedly the mayor's sentiments would be seconded by a vast majority of his constituents and by Kiwis elsewhere.

In a democracy elected leaders, among other things, are expected to stay in tune with popular sentiment. If they don't, they and their parties can be punished at the polls. This isn't to say leaders can't and shouldn't ever try to lead public sentiment. On the contrary, a politician who never takes a risk in leading or guiding public opinion or helping the public to resolve a question or issue is unlikely to be held in high regard, at least not for long. In the end in a democracy the people are left to judge the politicians, but history (as it were) judges both peoples and their politicians.

And that brings me to history-in-the-making here in New Zealand, the remaking or retaining of a major national symbol: the New Zealand national flag.  Apparently at the instigation of the current prime minister, Mr John Key, in the coming two years Kiwis will participate in national discussions, debates, and referendums about the national flag. In 2015 they will be asked to decide what alternative design might best supplant the current Kiwi flag. In 2016 they will be asked whether the chosen alternative should in fact supplant the current national flag, shown here below.

5.B The National Flag of New Zealand (Adopted in 1902)

Against a blue field a Union Jack holds the upper left corner, or canton, and a four-star representation of the Southern Cross constellation emblazons the right half of the field. The flag was adopted at a time when New Zealand was a crown colony in the British Empire. While the country has long ago shed that status (in 1907), the country remains in the British Commonwealth of Nations and moreover continues to recognize the British monarch as the head of state. 

One can say that New Zealand has a beautiful and striking flag. Unfortunately, one can't say that it has a distinguished flag. Au contraire. Take a look at the flag of New Zealand's neighbor across the Tasman Sea.

5.C National Flag of Australia (Adopted in 1901)

Despite the presence of the seven-pointed 'Commonwealth Star' beneath the Union Jack and despite the presence of all-white stars on the Australian flag (versus red-with-white-trim stars on the New Zealand flag), the flags of these neighboring countries are very similar. They're easily confused.  For example in 1984 when Australia's prime minister, Mr Bob Hawke, was on an official state visit to Canada, he was greeted in Ottawa by a sea of New Zealand national flags mistakenly held aloft in his honour. That is but one instance of a confusion widely observed and acknowledged by Aussies and Kiwis, whatever their views on traditional or novel flag designs for their homelands.

Suggestions to change the design of the New Zealand national flag apparently first surfaced in the 1970s. The debate has waxed and waned ever since. Just this past October New Zealand's national cabinet agreed on the aforementioned referendums. No doubt it's hoped these referendums and the discussions and debates preceding them will bring some closure to an issue of national identity. Numerous alternative New Zealand flag designs have been proposed over the last 40 years. Some of those designs can be seen here, albeit with some irrelevant flag designs in the mix, including alternative Australian flag designs. 

Apparently Australia has had a flag debate of its own, also starting in the 1970s. At least as reported in Wikipedia the Australia flag debate has been partly fueled by the issue of whether Australia should become a republic, divesting itself of the British crown as head of state. So far as I can discern, the republic-versus-monarchy question plays no role in Kiwi discussions about a new national flag. Indeed, Kiwi advocates of a new national flag adamantly argue that supporting the adoption of a novel flag doesn't entail anti-royalism.

I believe the Kiwi flag issue has nothing to do with who caps New Zealand's polity--whether monarch or president--but who counts in the polity and therefore how the polity is to be identified. When you cut through the verbiage and sort through the novel designs you can't help but come away with the sense that those supporting a novel Kiwi flag want to move away from the Britishness of the current flag--with the Union Jack in the canton. Those who wish to preserve the existing flag argue (among other points) that so many of the novel flag designs incorporate Māori design elements exclusively, implicitly excluding the role of British or other foreign immigrants in creating the New Zealand state, economy, and culture. These immigrants have a name in Kiwi culture: Pākehā. Kiwi culture is in fact a blend of Māori and Pākehā practices and values cultivated (and at times mis-cultivated) ever since the signing in 1840 of the Treaty of Waitangi, as discussed in Blogpost 13.04. The issue of New Zealand's flag design is an issue of who counts in the polity called New Zealand and how that significance is consigned in the national flag, if you will.

5.D National Flag of Canada (1957-1965), Similar to Predecessors

Arguably fifty years ago the Canadians were wrestling with the same issue. Anglophone Canadians, populating the vast majority of that country's territory, were happy enough to identify with Canada's British heritage. The Canadian national flag incorporated a Union Jack just as the Kiwi flag does today, albeit against a red field. Francophone Canadians, descendants of the French pioneers who created Quebec, bristled under the perception that the national flag emblazoned their status as second-class citizens. After discussion and debate and following royal assent in 1965 Canada adopted the dignified and distinguished flag that serves to this day. Canadians of all persuasions and stations have rallied around their national colours ever since.

5.E National Flag of Canada

If the Kiwis are to adopt a new flag, there will be no point in adopting one unless it erases any suggestion of second-class citizenship and unless it honors both the Māori and Pākehā contributions to New Zealand's polity. How do you do that in a Kiwi context? There are some ready emblems that Kiwi folk recognize, whatever their political or cultural convictions. The two most relevant ones that come to my foreign mind are kiwi bird and silver fern images. Of the two images the latter arguably would better serve on a national flag.

As it happens the national rugby union team, the All Blacks, wear black shirts emblazoned with the silver fern. There is no formal state church in New Zealand but the gatherings for All Black matches come close to being religious observances, observances in which virtually all Kiwis participate (if only indirectly) and in which all Kiwis count as one. The All Blacks thus serve not only as sportsmen but as 'priests' whose rites on the rugby fields serve to unify Kiwis of all places and station. It should come as no surprise that Mr Key, New Zealand's current prime minister, has suggested that the silver fern against a black field serve as the basis and perhaps entirety of a new national flag.

If a new national flag is adopted, hopefully it won't be subject to the kind of confusion that vexes the current flag. It couldn't be regarded as an advance if a new, merely white-on-black Kiwi flag could be readily confused with white-on-black flags favoured by pirates and terror-loving entities. Colours are critical elements of flag design. New Zealand, of all places, needn't bring a limited colour palette to a new flag. 

For everything there is a season and a time. Perhaps the time has come for change; perhaps not. Kiwis, like it or not, are now afforded a chance to decide on their national colours.  Whatever their decision, at least this foreigner will be following their decision with interest, seeing the impending discussions as an outgrowth of the polity or national community stemming from the Treaty of Waitangi, the community called New Zealand or Aotearoa. Long may her colours fly, whatever they be.

Warm regards,
Tim (& Jean)

PS. The news out of Hastings provided an entrée to this week's blogpost. And, while I'm at it, I'll use Hastings as a hook for sharing photos taken on a recent visit to the town. I don't expect to write a post about Hastings, so the photos and comments below will have to serve as my 'hi' and 'goodbye' to Napier's nearest neighbor. Napier and Hastings were both affected by the earthquake of 1931. It should come as no surprise that Hastings, like Napier, has its own treasure of post-1931 buildings exhibiting Art Deco motifs. Here are some examples from the Hasting central business district.

5.F Focal Point Cinema & Cafe on Heretaunga St East

5.G Former Public Trust Office Serving as a Bar & Restaurant

5.H The Hastings Health Centre Queen Street Facade

5.I Hastings Health Centre along Russell St North

5.J Russell St Walkway at the Hastings Central Mall

The people of Hastings don't just bask in their Art Deco heritage. They've obviously made efforts to beautify the town. Perhaps one of the most remarkable efforts in the entire town is the placement of a fountain in what is called the 'Hastings Central Mall'. If you look at the photo immediately below you might say there's nothing particularly remarkable about this fountain. Fountains are urban fixtures all over the world. Moreover, the placement of stylized, stainless-steel Christmas trees in the fountain, you might say, is hardly remarkable. I would agree.

5.K Fountain in Hastings Central Mall

What's remarkable about this fountain is the mainline track of the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line, which goes smack through the middle of the fountain. I've never seen the likes of this anywhere. Nor would I, a railway man, have ever expected to see the likes of it. Yet in a Kiwi context it works. I'd say Hastings is all the better for it. 

5.L View of the Hastings Central Mall Fountain with Hastings Clock Tower in the Background

PPS, 24 March 2016 [New Zealand Time]. This evening the results of New Zealand's final-round flag referendum were announced. Somewhat more than 2.1 million Kiwis, about 68% of eligible voters, participated in this referendum. An earlier referendum, in 2015, had given voters an opportunity to select an alternate to New Zealand's long-standing national flag (See Wikipedia here). The voting public decisively embraced the extant New Zealand flag, 56.6 percent voting for that flag and 43.1 percent (or, according to some sources, 43.2 percent) voting for the alternate flag, shown below.