Our Emblem
At
the centre of our emblem is the fish-hook with which Maui hauled the North island of New Zealand —
Te Ika a Maui — from the ocean. Its shape echoes the 'koru' — the frond of the native
ponga fern, supported by fern leaves. Above it is the representation of a mountain, such as Taranaki
(Mt Egmont) or Aoraki (Mt Cook).
The triangles come from compass plates used in sailing ships, and now incorporated in many Polynesian tattoos. They point towards the dots of Micronesia's atolls, protected by reefed lagoons.
The wavy line at the base is like those painted on the body for Melanesian dances and 'sing-sings', representing Vanua — the land. The overall shell shape is reminiscent of fans plaited from pandanus and coconut fibre by people all over the Pacific.
The emblem was designed by Michael Tuffrey, a New Zealander of Samoan descent.
The Mascot
Our mascot is the Kiwi.
The Kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird, which is native to New Zealand. There are six known species of Kiwi, and numbers have been dwindling in all parts of the country. New Zealanders are often referred to as 'Kiwis' although the plural of Kiwi is Kiwi NOT Kiwis!
The picture of our mascot is now available as an 8 bit desktop picture to download:
Kiwi Information
The following sites have pictures and information about the Kiwi:
- The site Mercury Bay Online! contains an extract from the publication “Threatened” which was produced by BNZ in cooperation with the Department of Conservation and Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. It contains some good pictures and descriptions of the 6 mains species of Kiwi.
- The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society is New Zealand’s largest national conservation organisation. The site contains information about their conservation campaigns.
- The New Zealand Department of Conservation has a page describing the threatened species trust programme and outlines the plan save some of New Zealand's threatened species, the Kiwi being only one of these.
- The Kiwi Recovery Programme has its own web page. This contains a wealth of information about the Kiwi and programme to save it from extinction.
Flag Information
Our Kiwi is carrying the New Zealand flag. The flag consists of two main elements, the Union flag of Great Britain and the four stars of the Southern Cross.
The New Zealand entry in Flags of the World contains much information about the history of the Flag.
The Department of Internal Affairs’ NZ Flag Booklet contains information about the flag and guidelines for its use.
