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Story: Flags

National flags flying at half-mast

National flags flying at half-mast

The New Zealand flag is flown at half-mast during times of mourning. Here, it flies at half-mast alongside the Australian, South African and Union Jack (British) flags during a remembrance service in Greymouth for the 29 miners who were killed in the Pike River mine explosion in 2010. The foreign flags acknowledge that people from countries other than New Zealand also died in the disaster.

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by Ross Setford

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Flags – Flag law and protocol, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/33994/national-flags-flying-at-half-mast (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 14 March 2012.

Comments

Wayne Burrett
22 April 2022
Is the N.Z. Flag shown in this picture in the correct position? I thought the NZ flag should always be displayed first on the left when other countries flags are flown alongside the N.Z. one? The Greymouth Service in 2010 for the Pike River mine explosion>