A confession: the first time I ever came to this country I found three things surprising: I was confounded that so many places had non-English names. I had never heard Maori, let alone associated the people with New Zealand.
Next, I imagined that the strange Union flag ensemble flying off the Harbour Bridge was some kind of naval version of a British flag.
Even then, if anyone told me I had to stop to count the stars to tell it apart from its Aussie twin I would have asked what they were smoking. Has this country no consideration for dyslexics?
Finally, perhaps most tragically to some, I would have put money on an "All-Black" being a licorice. [Friends had already convinced me that Robert Muldoon was a brand of Scotch.] That is why this country decided to call me a citizen. Once they let me in, Statistics NZ knew there was no place to go but up.
Yes, the New Zealand flag is so far overdue for change I would argue that outside of Australians, the truth is 98 per cent of the world wouldn't have a clue that our current flag represents New Zealand. They'd have to mentally eliminate old British colonies in their head.
Give them a Koru or a Southern Cross of Pineapple Lumps and they'd have a fighting chance.
People often point to the pervasive pride of the US flag in American society but the truth is today's incarnation is one of 27 times that flag has been changed.
The earliest American flag designs also had a Union flag in the upper left corner.
The current US flag you see only came into existence in 1959, a mere 51 years old today. At age 17, Robert G. Heft submitted it as a school project and got a B-. The point is that the flag grew and evolved as America did.
Why shouldn't we, too, honour our continuing national evolution to better reflect not just who we were but who we have become? You don't disparage history by venerating it anew.
Today, this little exercise is asking the wrong question. An argument for modern branding doesn't cut it. This should be a discussion about waking up national apathy.
The question should be; what will it take to shake this country into seeing itself anew? If we have to start with a piece of cloth to begin the conversation about moving past our 170-year adolescence into fully expressed independence, bring it on.
<i>Tracey Barnett</i>: World given so few clues it's a wonder they ever find us
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