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English: The Silver Fern Ensign of New Zealand

Designed by: John Horn from International

The flag is diagonally cut with the Night Sky in the upper and the Aqua Marine seas in the lower. The black has the double edge of representing the colour now most associated with NZ Sport ie a Black singlet. As a night sky it is the perfect backdrop for the Southern Cross, this being the one link between the old flag and the new. It is perhaps now that one can recognize the duplicity of my thinking that the black also represents the land, the teal blue the waters that surround our islands and the Silver Fern may be seen as not just a fern but symbolic of a) The long white cloud (Aotearoa) as, the first Maori explorers were compelled to call this land. (as they approached from the seas) b) Tall standing Kauri trees on the shoreline and reflected in the waters c) Of a Waka with paddles raised also reflected in the Ocean. d) And of course the Silver Fern being internationally recognized as the adopted symbol associated with all New Zealand sporting uniforms. So you see the flag is a compilation of many aspects of different but yet totally recognizable facets of New Zealand. Credit for the fern goes to Dave Clark.