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Story: Flags

Union Jack flag

Image
Union Jack flag

The Union Jack (Britain's flag) replaced the United Tribes flag as the recognised flag of New Zealand after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. This imagined scene, painted around 1950, shows a Māori chief signing the treaty before Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson, who is seated at a table covered with a Union Jack.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: NON-ATL-0173

by Marcus King

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Flags – New Zealand flag, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/33970/union-jack-flag (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 14 March 2012.