Ron has designs on a new flag
Ron Davidson hopes to see his design above the Beehive and on Auckland Harbour Bridge one day.
The former Pukerua Bay resident, who lives in Auckland and works as a designer, is eager to change the national flag.
His design has a koru on a black and white background, with teal and blue along the bottom of the flag.
Anderson was part of a government-sanctioned working group that investigated changing the flag in the 1980s, but it came to nought after a lot of talk, he said.
‘‘This has been a long-standing issue that I have strong feelings on,’’ he said.
The National Government has pledged a referendum later this year on whether to change the flag and Anderson hoped his design would make a shortlist.
So far the feedback has been good – he has his design on the side of his car and flies it above his home in Whangaparaoa.
He would promote his flag design more widely in the coming months, he said.
‘‘We had a flag with us while we were camping in Northland this summer and people have been very, very positive about it,’’ he said.
‘‘I would love it to be considered, so I’m putting it out there as much as I can. I get a lot of toots and waves when I’m in the car.’’
He said the koru was a powerful symbol in Maori imagery and the blue could represent the Pacific part of New Zealand’s culture.
The white at the top is the representative of the long white cloud and the strong horizontal lines represent the land and the sea.
Different people would find different meaning in the colours, he said.
Anderson does not have anything against the current flag, but said it was time to move on.
He discounted the Southern Cross and silver fern motifs when finalising his own design.
‘‘I’m not anti the Southern Cross and Union Jack, but it feels like New Zealand as a country is like a kid who needs to leave home,’’ he said.
‘‘ The current flag has things anchored in our colonial history and we do not want to ignore that, but I went through a long process of elimination last year before settling on what I have.’’
Anderson, who attended Tawa College, still has a property in Pukerua Bay and his father lives in Otaki.