Last modified: 2008-09-13 by bruce berry
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image by
Martin Grieve, 11 July 2008
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SAVA Member Geoff Caruth has prepared a design for a "local" or unofficial flag
for the province of KwaZulu-Natal. According to Caruth:
The province and its predecessors, the Province of Natal, the
Colony of Natal
and the Republiek Natalia has a flag history that stretches back over 170 years.
Although the present South African government has created new Coats of Arms for
all nine Provinces, it has taken the decision not to have separate provincial
flags unlike in most other parts of the world.
However there is no reason why an unofficial or "popular" or local flag cannot
be flown. Anguilla's beautiful Dolphin banner, the
Newfoundland "Native" Flag
and the local flags of the French Overseas territories are some examples of the
type of flag being proposed for KwaZulu-Natal. In designing such a flag for
KwaZulu-Natal the colours of the South African national flag have been used to
create a simple allegorical design - the Black Wildebeest (Gnu), long associated
with the province - as found on its former colonial badge, and hence colonial
ensigns and also used as a sporting emblem - in full charge across the green
fields of this fertile Province, with the sun setting against the blue sky.
image by
Martin Grieve, 11 July 2008
Two combinations of the colours have been chosen. Whilst the yellow fimbriations
on the sun with the white edged Wildebeest may be pictorially more correct, most
people seem to prefer the golden edged Wildebeest and the white fimbriated sun,
saying that the white edged Wildebeest looked "cold"!
As with the South African national flag, no other specific meanings are given to
the colours or layout, although some people have suggested that amongst other
things, they imagine they see the sun setting over the British empire (like
Britannia's broken trident in the flag of Barbados) recalling the province's
previous epithet of being the "Last Colonial Outpost".
The flag has been manufactured in various sizes and will now be "marketed".
It will be interesting to see if it finds favour amongst the inhabitants of
KwaZulu-Natal".
Bruce Berry, 11 July 2008