This red and white flag flew at Gate Pa, near Tauranga, during the heroic battle of 1864. The star is said to represent the Star of Bethlehem. The flag of Titokowaru, the famous Taranaki warrior who fought against the Pakeha in the 1860s. It is red and white, and seven feet six inches in length. The flag of Te Ua, prophet of the Hauhau faith. ‘Kenana’ is the Maori form of Canaan in the Bible. The outer area of the flag is red, and so is the lowest of the three symbols. The lettering and the other two symbols are black. This handsome flag, captured in the Hunua ranges in 1863, hangs in the entrance to the Auckland Public Library. It is red, white and black (in the drawing the black area is represented by stripes). red on a white ground, with a red surrounding area. Altogether this huge flag is 20 feet long by 12 feet deep. The tall flagpoles or ‘niu’ which were the centres of worship of the Hauhau cult were hung with many different flags. One kind, of which several have survived, was known as a ‘Riki’, and represented the Angel Gabriel; it was usually a pennant with a cross at the wider end. Gabriel was regarded as an avenging angel, and was believed to have inspired, the prophet Te Ua. In Te Ua's flag ‘Kenana’ the trefoil device, which may have been copied from a playing card, is said to represent the Trinity.

King Movement Flags The Maori King movement also had many flags, one of which is illustrated on page 33. Other flags bear the words ‘Kingi’ or ‘Niu Tireni’ (New Zealand). James Cowan in his book ‘The Maori Yesterday and Today’, page 85, illustrates a later and most complicated one which features the Tainui canoe, the rainbow god Uenuku and the Pleiades (Matariki), together with a cross, a crescent moon and the sun. Another similar flag flown at Ngaruawahia today appears on page 30 of Te Ao Hou No. 41. Many of the old flags are very well sewn, for often their makers were girls who had learnt needlework at the mission schools. The beautifully made flag ‘Aotearoa’ was sewn by a young half-caste woman named Heni Pore who had been to school in Auckland in the 1850s. Many years later she met the writer James Cowan and told him the history of the flag. ‘I made that flag in our camps as we travelled about in the Hunua bush in the latter part of 1863. It took me about three weeks to complete the work, doing it as opportunity offered.’ Cowan adds that at that time Heni was about 23, ‘with two or three children which she and her mother and sister carried on their warlike wanderings. She carried a gun, too, and was able to use it.’

Many Have Not Survived Altogether there are approximately 20 Maori war flags still in existence, as well as some drawings in the Dominion Museum and elsewhere. However in many cases nothing is known of their history and symbolism. Other flags were captured but have not survived; Captain Gilbert Mair in 1870 presented Te