Kōrero: Flags

The display of the New Zealand flag is guided by a series of protocols intended to uphold the honour of the flag. In 1988 the Evening Post published a photograph of the flag flying upside-down at the Old Government Buildings (now the Victoria University law school) in Wellington. This treatment of the flag is a breach of protocol. An upside-down flag is usually intended to cause offence, and has also been used as a distress signal. In this case the flag's position was probably not deliberate.