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
Queen's Personal Flag for New Zealand the same basic pattern used by queen across several other realms since the 1960s: it is the escutcheon of a country's coat of arms (e.g. the arms of New Zealand) in banner form defaced with a device taken from her personal flag (a blue roundel surrounded by a garland of roses encircling a crowned letter 'E', all in gold). The flag is divided into four quadrants: The first quadrant includes depicts four stars as representative of the Southern Cross constellation, as depicted on the national flag. The second quadrant consists of a golden fleece on a red field. The third