Flag of the Governor-General of New Zealand in the centre of the Southern Cross." Succeeding Governors found it convenient to use this flag on shore and it became accepted as the official viceregal flag. In 1907 New Zealand's status was officially transformed from self-governing colony to Dominion. To mark the transition to independence, the New Zealand Government recommended that the garland of laurels on the Governor’s flag should be replaced by one of fern leaves; the fern leaf was already recognised as one of New Zealand's national symbols. In a letter of 5 January 1908 the Governor requested that the garland around the badge on his flag
New Zealand flag debate national flag in the second referendum. What is your choice for the New Zealand flag? The second referendum was held 3–24 March 2016. It asked voters to choose between the current New Zealand Flag and the preferred alternative design selected in the first referendum (Option 2 above). With 2.1 million votes cast, voters chose to retain the current flag by 56.6% to 43.1%. The results of the referendums were binding, meaning the flag with the most votes in the second referendum was the official flag of New Zealand. If a new flag had been chosen, it would have come into