Kiribati

I've recently learned something new about this country in Pacific Ocean: it's the only country that extends into both North and South hemispheres and into both Western and Eastern hemispheres — its antipode is no land.

This curious fact inspired me to design a hypothetical flag for Kiribati, just for fun.

The real flag of Kiribati is the following:


It's a simple banner of the colonial arms of then-British colony Gilbert and Ellice Islands, that also comprised current Tuvalu.

My frst proposal is the following:


The division in four quarters is now obvious. The three stars represent the three main island chains of the country, from left: Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands. Kiribati also contain an isolated island, Banaba, but I don't know the best way of include it.

My second proposal is a rework of the previous, avoiding the light blue shade so common in Oceania:


Which proposal do you prefer?

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
So sorry for long absence. I was having problems uploading images on Blogger.

Palmerston North (New Zealand)

Palmerston North is one of New Zealand's biggest cities. However, its flag is far from impressive, being boring and against many vexillological rules:


The eagle is inspired in the family coat of arms of Lord Palmerston, that gives the city its name. The origin of the tower is currently unknown.

Using a banner of arms, maybe removing the bordure, was too easy, to I took it a step further, keeping only the colors and the identifiable symbolism.


Now I think Palmerston North could have the flag it deserves. I made a variant version with a punning palm tree:


I think it breaks a bit of flag's charm, that's simplicity and symmetry. So I made another variant, incorporating the shell, a badge of the palmer (i.e. pilgrim). As can be seen, the golden shell is also present in current crest.


I think options 1 and 3 are beautiful and distinctive and both could be used. Which one do you prefer?
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Next week, a very polemical flag issue.

British Overseas Territories (United Kingdom)

Let's take a careful look at Gibraltar's flag:

Why is this different from any other British overseas' flag? Because it don't have an Union Jack on it. Now, look at the flag of the other fifteen British overseas territories:

Akrotiri and Dhekelia	Anguilla	Ascension
Bermuda	British Antarctic Territory	British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands	Cayman Islands	Falklands Islands
Montserrat	Pitcairn	Saint Helena
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands	Tristan da Cunha	Turks and Caicos

Quite boring, isn't it? So today I'll present my proposal for the fifteen! Some of the designs are mine, others aren't (when noted).

My design for Akroitiri and Dhekelia is inspired by the Dhekelia Garrison's flag. For difference, I've added the colors of British Ministry of Defence, to show it's a military base.


My proposal for Anguilla is actually a rip-off of Republic of Anguilla (1967-1969) flag i.e. a banner of current arms.


For Ascension, a banner of arms, too. I added a tiny white fimbriation in the green chevron, just to increase visibility:


For Bermuda, I picked the lion and red of current flag (both representing British influence) but put the lion's face on a triangle, a reference to famous Bermuda's triangle.


My British Antarctic Territory flag proposal is based on coat of arms, too. I put the blue stripes on center and made the white background shine.


For British Indian Ocean Territory, I picked the flag of Chagossians (natives) in exile and put the palm tree and crown from current design. Some minor details is that I put the crown crossing the tree and centered in black stripe, for better aesthetics. This is one of my favorite flags in the series.


Also original is my flag for the British Virgin Islands. The lamp refers to Saint Ursula and the 11,00 martyred handmaidens that give the islands its name. The four stars represent the four main islands: Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke.


My proposal for Cayman Islands is a simplification of current coat of arms; this design, actually, was reportedly once used by independentist movement.


My flag for Falkland Island is freely inspired in the coat of arms. I removed the ship and shifted the flag for the hoist for aesthetic reasons.


The flag of Montserrat represent, basically, the island of Ireland (due to physical similarities and the origin of many settlers) and the cross. So I made the following design:


Another of my favorite design on the series is that of Pitcairn. It's, basically, a rotated and simplified version of the coat of arms.


For Saint Helena, I kept the symbol bird of the territory, but added a cross in red and yellow in reference to Byzantine empress Saint Helena, that, according to tradition, found the True Cross.


I rotated and simplified the coat of arms of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Now, the two wavy stars represent both James Cook and the two island chains (South Georgia and South Sandwich) that gives the territory its name.


The flag of Tristan da Cunha is just the striking banner of arms:


Finally, my proposal for Turks and Caicos. I couldn't satisfactorily harmonize the three charges of its coat of arms, so I used yellow for sand, green for the flora, pink for the shell and the flamingoes and a lobster as lone charge.


Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Sorry for the delay; I hope the long post is enough sorry.

New Zealand [II]

New Zealand is going to hold a referendum about a flag change. NZ Government is listing all the designs submitted so far. Looking there, I got in the mood of submitting my own design.













I thought about submitting the flag of my original post about NZ, but similars design were already submitted. So I made this design:













The Southern Cross is were it was supposed to be. I decided to use a straight silver fern instead of more usual, curved fern. Due to laziness, I used the same fern from a (beautiful, indeed) design by James Bowman, from Auckland:













I think the silver fern and Southern Cross are more neutral than Union Jack or Tino rangatiratanga (main Maori flag). The silver fern could be, obviously, of a motif different from Bowman's.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Not submitted it yet, but may do it next days.

Jervis Bay Territory (Australia)

The Jervis Bay Territory is a small area that, in 1915, was surrendered by New South Wales to give Canberra an access to sea. Although Australian Capital Territory's laws apply to the Territory, it's not part of ACT.

My suggestion for a flag for Jervis Bay Territory is the following:


The basic pattern (Southern Cross in hoist third) is the same of a Australian territory. For the rest of the flag, I designed a round badge based in the coat of arms of John Jervis, from whom the territory is named; it also inspired the ship badge of HMAS Jervis Bay. The shells represent the Booderee National Park and the beautiful beaches, while the anchor represents HMAS Creswell.

I like the result, specially the colors arrangement.

Comments are welcome.
I'm planning to soon post my entry in Birmingham community flag contest. Know more here.

Dunedin (New Zealand)

The city of Dunedin is the capital of the New Zealandic province of Otago, and second most populated city of South Island.

Its flag, whose use is restrict to city council and other authorized bodies, is the banner of arms, similar to this:

The green zigzag line refers to Otago's mountains and valleys, and its three tops refer to the Mounts Flagstaff (yes, a vexillologic mountain!), Swampy and Cargill. The ram (wool and mutton) and the sheaves (cereals) represents some important economic activities of the region. The castle is inspired in the famous Edinburgh Castle, present on the flag of the Scottish city of Edinburgh, as "Dunedin" name was took from Gaelic name of Edinburgh, Dùn Èideann, and even some Dunedin streets, etc. are named after Edinburgh counterparts. The ship represents the first Scottish immigrant ships, being the foundation of the town related to Free Church of Scotland.

My proposal, using a geometrical approach, is the following:

On bottom, the same zigzag lines of coat of arms, representing the mountains, valleys and the bay (where there's a port), while the blue and white is supposed to form, together with bottom part, an allusion to the Scottish saltire, a reference to Edinburgh and the Scottish founders of the city.

I like the result, aesthetically, but I fear that, maybe, it's a too radical departure from original flag. Anyway, differently of council flag, this flag could be freely flown.

Comments are welcome. Feel free to comment.
I'd like to wish an excellent 2014 to all, and give thanks to all the support during 2013.

Fiji [II]

To read the original post, click here.

A little more than two months ago, I presented a suggestion to a new Fijian flag. The reason is simple: a new Constitution to Fiji will be approved soon, and it was announced that a new national flag will come together. The only info about how it'll look: without the Union Jack.

Now you can see the current Fiji flag and, after that, my first proposal to a Fijian flag (that I re-thought):

With precious reviews from Flags Forum, I came with a re-do:

Sky blue, white and black are colors identified with Fiji, specially because of their use by the national sportive teams. The palm tree represent the island itself (and is used by rugby team), while the blue background represents the great Pacific Ocean that surrounds the island. The doves come from a pre-colonial flag, and the way they are positioned on the flag represents the peace and stability coming directly to the island. I think this flag is more representative and equilibrated than my first attempt, so I think that, in the end, it's a better flag.

By the way, a set of ensigns I made based on the flag. Respectively, the state, civil, naval and air force ensigns:

Comments are welcome. Please, leave your comment.
As soon as the new Fiji flag appear, I'll comment it on Flag Review, my other blog. Why don't you visit it right now?

Fiji

Fiji is going to approve a new Constitution, and it was confirmed that the national flag will be changed. First, let's see current Fiji flag:

The flag of Fiji was chose in a contest in 1970. The winner proposal was very simple: a light blue flag (representing Pacific Ocean), with national coat of arms and United Jack on canton. It was confirmed that the Union Jack will be removed, so I tried not to be much monarchist. And I tried to represent Fiji itself in place of current government. This was the result:

Although I think Fiji flag is aesthetically poor, I tried to take some resemblance, because it's a popular flag. The white dove is a symbol of peace. It's present on Fiji current coat of arms and in a previous, precolonial, flag. The green palm tree comes from coat of arms, too, and from national rugby team logo. Blue continues to symbolize the Pacific Ocean, but also sky and stability. Green is for land and hope. The dove, that traditionally should be turned to left, is turned to right like if facing Fiji's future.

Every comment is welcome.

This is a blog about flags, not Politics!