New Zealand - Historical Maori flags

Last modified: 2002-10-26 by sam lockton
Keywords: maori | tapapa | te kooti arikirangi te turuki | iwi | cross (maroon) | wi | w | i | crescent (fimbriated) | star: 4 points (multicoloured) | stars: 3 | canton |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• Flag of Te Kooti Arikirangi te Turuki
• Flag of Te Kooti at Tapapa

• Maori flags
• Historical flags of New Zealand
• New Zealand
• New Zealand - Index of all pages

Te Kooti Arikirangi te Turuki was a leading Maori warrior and rebel leader of the 1860s. His feats are the stuff of legend as much as of history. Imprisoned on the Chatham Islands, he received a vision in which the Archangel Michael told him to found a new religion for his people, Ringatu ("The upraised hand"). After a daring escape he and his followers wreaked havoc among the settlers along the east coast of the New Zealand North Island during the 1860s and 1870s. Te Kooti's support was largely among the Tuhoe iwi (tribe), a major Maori iwi based in the Urewera mountains between Lake Taupo and Hawkes Bay.

Te Kooti's banner was captured by colonial forces at Te Porere in October 1869. According to Dream Collectors: 100 years of Art in New Zealand (Te Papa Press, Wellington, 1998):

The symbols on the flag have been much debated. The letters 'WI' probably stood for the Holy Spirit, Wairua Tapu, 'WI' also refers to the Holy Spirit in the Ringatu Faith. The crescent moon was a tohu (portent) of a new world; the red cross, the fighting cross of the Archangel Michael. The moon and cross reiterate the first two elements of Te Wepu, the captured flag of Ngati Kuhungunu. Te Kooti probably took these images and incorporated them into a flag of his own design.

(I have found out nothing about the flag of Ngati Kuhungunu, but flags were, and still are, very commonly used by diffeent Maori Iwi and other groups.)

Note the unusual dimensions, approximately 1:2.5. The original, still in Te Papa Tongarewa (NZ's national museum) was hand sewn by Te Kooti's supporters in cotton, with woollen stitching. It is 1940 x 795 mm in size. The different symbols are in different shades of red (as shown in the gif), but this is probably due to the scarcity of materials rather than having any symbolic meaning. While making this gif I noted that the symbols actually form the word "Iwi", meaning tribal group. It is quite possible that Te Kooti intended this extra possible meaning of the symbols.

James Dignan, 7 Feburary 1997