---
title: "Flag of New Zealand: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the New Zealand flag stands for, its official 1:2 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/new-zealand/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The flag of New Zealand

**The flag of New Zealand: A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton and four red, white-bordered five-pointed stars in the fly forming the Southern Cross.**

Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1902

*[Flag drawn on the page: New Zealand]*

The four stars are the practical difference from Australia's flag: New Zealand leaves out Epsilon Crucis entirely and gives its stars five points each. A 2015-16 referendum on replacing the flag, costing around NZD 26 million, put a silver fern design against the existing flag; the existing flag won with 56.6 per cent. Because the two flags are so alike, Australian and New Zealand delegations have repeatedly been given the wrong one at international events, including at a 1984 Australian visit to Canada. The 1902 Act made official a design that had been the colony's ensign since 1869.

## Flags it gets confused with

*[Flag drawn on the page: New Zealand, Australia]*

*Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.*

| Flag | How to tell them apart |
| --- | --- |
| Australia | Australia has six stars — the five-star Southern Cross plus a large seven-pointed Commonwealth Star under the Union Jack — and all of them are white. |

## What the colours mean

*Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.*

- **Blue** (#00247D) — The sea and sky surrounding the country
- **Red** (#CC142B) — The stars of the Southern Cross
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — The borders that keep the red stars legible on blue

## The symbols on it

| What | What it stands for |
| --- | --- |
| Southern Cross | The constellation Crux; four stars, omitting the faint fifth |

- **Ratio:** 1:2
- **Current design adopted:** 1902
- **Colours:** blue, red, white

## Common questions

### What does the flag of New Zealand look like?

A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton and four red, white-bordered five-pointed stars in the fly forming the Southern Cross.

### What do the colours of the New Zealand flag mean?

Blue: the sea and sky surrounding the country. Red: the stars of the Southern Cross. White: the borders that keep the red stars legible on blue.

### How do you tell the New Zealand flag from the Australia one?

Australia has six stars — the five-star Southern Cross plus a large seven-pointed Commonwealth Star under the Union Jack — and all of them are white.

### When was the New Zealand flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1902, and its official ratio is 1:2.

## Related pages

- [New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country/new-zealand/)
- [The flag of Australia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/australia/)
- [Every flag with blue in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/blue/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [The flag of India](https://atoneplace.net/flag/india/)
- [The flag of United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-kingdom/)
- [The flag of France](https://atoneplace.net/flag/france/)
- [The flag of Russia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/russia/)
- [The flag of Brazil](https://atoneplace.net/flag/brazil/)
- [The flag of South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/flag/south-korea/)
- [The flag of Ukraine](https://atoneplace.net/flag/ukraine/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)