Britain Then, Now and Forever: The Mystery of the Victorian Flag on Mangaia Island

With Queen Victoria’s head painted on its pole, it became a symbol of power for successive Mangaia chiefs and, after the islanders were annexed by New Zealand, a symbol of their resistance to colonial rule and their determination to maintain their sovereignty over their land, writes Rod Dickson.

In 1888, the chiefs of Rarotonga successfully petitioned the British government to declare the Cook Islands a protectorate in response to French provocations. Mangaia was reluctant, but the British government accepted protectorate status “after sufficient persuasion”, with the assurance that “all laws and customs now recognized will continue in force, and that he (the Ariki or chief) will not be interfered with in the administration of the islands”. This included the administration of the land, which had seen 42 territorial wars in the islands’ thousand-year history.

Prime Minister of New Zealand Richard Seddon and King Tokia of Niue. 1 June 1900. When the flag was hoisted, Queen Victoria’s head was painted on the lower left. (Photo – Seddon 1900; 223) / 24080256

In 1900, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Honourable Richard Seddon, visited the Cook Islands to meet with local traditional leaders to discuss the annexation of the islands. A year later, the British Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Ranfurly, visited Mangaia Island to seek the consent of the local chiefs for formal annexation to the British Empire. The Mangaia chiefs agreed to “cede the sovereignty of Mangaia Island to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, on condition that it be annexed as an integral part of the British Empire.” Ranfurly did not mention that the islands would be administered as a New Zealand colony.

Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Barker), Maori ethnographer and Comics Association (1934) noted that “[the Mangaia]did not want to be part of New Zealand and called for independence from Britain and restoration of protectorate status”. (1)

Their protest focused on the jurisdiction of the Colonial Land Court, a means by which the New Zealand government privatized and commercialized land that had traditionally been collectively owned by tribes and administered by their chiefs. The chiefs claimed that “Mangaia was part of the British Dominion under Queen Victoria, and therefore the land remained in our hands.” (2) Throughout New Zealand’s six decades of colonial rule, the Land Court was prohibited from adjudicating on Mangaia Island, and to this day all land and inheritance issues remain under the authority of the island chiefs.

Mangaia continues to enjoy the rights of a “British protectorate”, the centerpiece and symbol of which is the British “Victoria Flag” – a British pilot’s flag, or “pilot flag”, with a crude portrait of Queen Victoria painted on it.

The Rarotongan flag on the left is held by Mrs Meremaraea Vilma Tinirau Mary Macquarie, daughter of the late Makea Nui Teremoana Ariki CBE (Photo – Michel Lupant, 2005)/24080257

According to Mangayan tradition, the flag was given to Numangatini Ariki of Mangayan by Queen Victoria as part of a gift exchange, officially linking Mangayan to the British Crown. In exchange, the Mangayan people also gifted land to the Queen and the Royal Family. As Mangayan historian Tereevangeria Aratangi explains – “When Queen Victoria visited New Zealand, all the Pacific kings went to greet her and present her with gifts. The Mangayan king was Metuakore… The Mangayan king was the second to last, the last being the King of Tonga. (The missionaries) told the Mangayan king to bow and walk away facing the Queen. He was given a cane, stamps and a flag. The King of Tonga followed the Mangayan king’s example and was also given a flag.” (3)

There are no recorded meetings between the Mangaia Ariki and Queen Victoria in European history, nor are there any records of Queen Victoria visiting New Zealand. The only known meeting between the Mangaia Ariki and the (future) King and Queen of England took place in Auckland in July 1901, when Metu’akore Numangatini, the third Mangaia Ariki, was introduced to Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, Queen Victoria’s grandson and the future King George V. The event was marked by the presentation of a gold medal to the Mangaia chief.

Another version of the story about the flag states that the monarch was George V rather than Victoria.

Ms Puati Ngarua of the Trego Ariki family told me (14 May 1992) that this flag was given to her grandfather, Metuakore John Trego, by King George V. When King George V visited New Zealand, some Ariki people from the Cook Islands went to visit him. Metuakore was the second to last person to meet the King and when the King left, he kept his face towards the King. The last person to leave imitated Metuakore’s gesture. This impressed the King so much that when he returned to England, he gave two flags with Victoria’s head on them – one to Metuakore and the other, which some said was for the King of Tonga but was actually for the King of Niue. Ms Ngarua has seen photographs of the King of Niue holding the flag. Also, in photographs of her grandmother, the flag is draped over her shoulders with Queen Victoria’s head on the back. (4)

This flag was most likely one of three (or possibly four) similar flags presented to the King of Niue, Arikimaikea on Rarotonga, and Ariki on Mangaia by New Zealand Prime Minister Richard Seddon during his Pacific voyage in May 1900 (the fourth was probably presented to the King of Tonga).

On Niue, Prime Minister Seddon was photographed sitting next to King Togia with a pilot jack painted with Queen Victoria’s head hanging from a hoist around their knees.

According to official records: “Mr Seddon presented the King of Niue with a large Union Jack, which was evidently very gratifying to the native ruler. The Prime Minister of New Zealand told them that as long as the Union Jack flew over their heads they would be safe from foreign invasion or any kind of conflict with their neighbours. The flag was a symbol that they were the children of the great Queen and the Empress… The meeting then adjourned in the open air, the King and the chiefs sang a song of welcome, and photographs were taken – one of which was of the King and Mr Seddon holding the Union Jack…” (5)

Seddon told the people of Niue: “Your King and I sit together, and around us flies the Union Jack, which, under the guidance of the spirit of our kind and merciful Queen Victoria, will show the world what kind of country Niue belongs to, and that its people will be protected and forever happy. You have the best flag in the islands.” (6)

Seddon’s next visit was to Rarotonga, where he presented a flag similar to the Tonga Te O’Ari Ki Makai’a flag. Cook Islands flag, Michel R. Lupant recorded the relationship with the late Big Fat Man Teremoana Ariki showed us a huge flag from 1888, more than 2 meters high…[The flag]was immediately recognisable as a British pilot’s flag. A sailor had painted the face of Queen Victoria on the flagpole. The flag was over a hundred years old and had suffered damage, especially from clothes moth infestation.” (7)

Makea Ariki’s daughter dates the flag to 1888, the year Britain declared a protectorate over the Cook Islands. However, the flag depicted in Lupant’s paper bears a striking resemblance to Seddon’s 1900 Niuean flag and the reva paratane flag of Mangaia.

After visiting Rarotonga, Seddon travelled to Mangaia where the “Union Jack” was presented to Mangaia’s co-ruling Ariki – Metu’akore John Trego Ariki and Nuroa Numangatini Ariki.

Official records show that Mr Seddon, in company with Colonel Guccione (Resident Commissioner) and Mr Goodwin (Interpreter), visited the house of the Ariki, who was addressed by the visitors as “King John”, his full name being John Trego… When the principal party arrived to greet the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Seddon presented the Ariki with a Union Jack, who thanked him warmly and expressed his pleasure at the visit. (8)