Last modified: 2000-01-21 by santiago dotor
Keywords: tokelau | new zealand | proposal | union jack | canton | stars: 4 (red) | stars: 3 (white) | circles: 3 (broken) | palm tree (green) |
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by António Martins and Zeljko Heimer
See also:
Unofficial proposal
by Mark Sensen
I have a little question about the flag of Tokelau. There are two different possibilities for it. On FOTW site, there seems to be a specifical flag for those islands while on the World Flag Database the flag of New Zealand is mentioned. The flag on FOTW site seems to be "handmade", is there a more precise image available anywhere?
Pascal Gross, 4 March 1998
As far as I know, the blue flag of Tokelau is only a proposal made for some sport event in 1980's. The official flag should be the New Zealand one. However, Tokelau is a self-governing territory now, and I guess the flag (possibly the flag) will be adopted.
Jan Zrzavy, 4 March 1998
The Flags of Paradise 1996 chart shows the blue flag for Tokelau with the broken yellow rings (a coral atoll with two entrances?) and the caption, "Tokelau Islands NZ Territory circa 1989-present (unofficial)". I suspect they are close enough to the scene to know that the flag is in actual use.
John Ayer, 5 March 1998
Jos Poels told me some years ago he had contacted the authorities on Tokelau, and they confirmed the flag is not adopted officially.
Mark Sensen, 13 April 1999
Humberto Brumatti, a Tokelau-fan from Argentina visited FOTW and e-mailed me. I asked him for further information on the officialness of the flag (tk.gif) and its appearance or not on Tokelau stamps. This is his answer, abridged and translated:
Tokelau is undergoing an institutional change process where the UN plays a role. Its 1500 inhabitants, 10 sq.km. and no important income source (as is the case with Nauru) make impossible its independence from New Zealand, and the islanders are very comfortable with the current situation, with which they assume more self-determination rights in political issues, while New Zealand covers its broad economical deficit and absorbs constant immigration originating in a population excess.Up to the last Report of the Administrator of Tokelau for the year ended 30 June 1997 (published almost one [two?] and a half years [sic] later), no indication exists on the approval of a flag of their own.
Post stamps were issued up to the early nineties by the New Zealand Post, who in 1988 issued a series of stamps in one of which appeared the New Zealand flag. Later on, the issuing authority was assumed by the Office for the Tokelau Affairs, based up to recently at Apia (Western Samoa) and currently at Tokelau. I have even the most recently issued stamps, and none of them shows the flag in question [tk.gif].
Consulting the Office is useless. When it was managed by a New Zealand official, they kindly supplied any requested information and they even had an excellent periodical magazine, but since the islanders took over they have greatly neglected this important aspect of their [public] relations.
Santiago Dotor, 23 November 1999