Union Jack – Kowhaiwhai (Maori scroll design): The Kowhaiwhai design is based on the Mangotipi or white pointer shark. This is here to represent strength and the ocean. I wanted to combine the Maori design with the British to make reference to New Zealand as a multi cultural country.

Matariki (Pleiades) star motif: Replaces the Southern Cross. Matariki being the Maori New Year. A time to reflect on the past and to think about and plan for the future. A time for celebration!

The Pataka (store house): Top right hand corner. At Matariki our storehouses are full of food to sustain our bodies throughout the colder seasons. It is now the time to concentrate on filling our personal ‘pataka’ (our mind).

Proverb: ‘Tirohia atu nei ka wheturangitia Matariki, te whetu o te Tau’

‘Look above beyond the horizon and there you shall witness Pleiades, sign of the New Year’

Pipiri-June: Matariki was celebrated at different times by different tribes.