Remember when we flagged getting a new flag?
Ten years after New Zealand voted in the flag referendum, designers Kyle Lockwood and Lucy Gray look back at what might have been.
It’s 10 years since New Zealand voted in a referendum to keep flying the flag for tradition.
Over 10,292 alternative designs were submitted, then whittled down to a long list of 40 and then five. From there, Kyle Lockwood’s black, white and blue silver fern flag was chosen to go up against the old faithful.
Often described as the then Prime Minister Sir John Key's passion project, more than 2 million people voted in the final referendum.
John Key was a fan of the Kyle Lockwood design.
RNZ / Diego Opatowski
More than 1.2 million people, or 56.6 percent of those who voted, opted to keep the current flag.
Lockwood still reflects on what might have been, 10 years on, he told RNZ’s Nights.
“I reckon if maybe if there was only one particular design that was in the first referendum, it might have just got through. It might have got the 50 percent,” he says.
Lockwood, who is still selling his design through his website, says it was a moment when the country could have chosen a flag that more represented its modern identity.
“The Union Jack in the top left-hand corner probably doesn't represent every sort of New Zealander.
“We're a multicultural society now, and I think for a lot of people, it just doesn't resonate, and I think we probably should change the flag, but the vote in the end, it wasn't to be, of course.”
One of the most famous entries, which gained world-wide attention, was Fire the Lazar! by Lucy Gray.
The infamous Laser Kiwi design.
Wiki commons
“A lot of people ask me what's the story behind it and they bring up all their own theories and when it comes down to it, it's not that deep. I just thought New Zealand needed more dangerous animals.
“So, you know, just take a kiwi, add lasers,” she told RNZ’s Nights.
The design’s popularity likely reflects New Zealanders' sense of humour, she says.
“There's an element of satirising the flag referendum, which I think a lot of people saw as a waste of time and money.
“It's really a symbol of our irreverent sense of humour. And I think what it set out to do as an absurdist piece, it achieved quite well.”
Lockwood is pleased that his design, despite not making it over the line, resonated with so many Kiwis.
“The fact that it got nearly 44 percent of the vote, I think was amazing. Some of the polls were coming back at around 30 percent.
“And when it got 44, I was like, wow, that's actually quite a significant minority when you come to think of it.”
Lockwood, now living in Melbourne is still known as the “flag guy”.
“There're definitely worse nicknames,” he says.
