File:New Zealand Becomes a Dominion (15149497056).jpg

On 26 September 1907 the colony of New Zealand ceased to exist. New Zealand became a dominion within the British Empire.

The change was the idea of Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward. He felt that New Zealand “had well outgrown the ‘colonial stage’, and was as much entitled to a separate designation as the Commonwealth of Australia or the Dominion of Canada”.

Ward also had regional imperial ambitions. He hoped the term ‘dominion’ would remind the world that New Zealand was not part of Australia. It would dignify New Zealand, a country he thought was ‘the natural centre for the government of the South Pacific'.

However, the shift from colony to dominion was a change of name only. It had no practical effect. New Zealand was no more and no less independent from Britain than it had been before. Dominion status was more about perceptions – and perceptions matter. Other parts of the Empire also became dominions at this time, for they wanted a distinct status that would not confuse them with lesser ‘colonies’.

After New Zealand became a dominion the Government ran a competition in 1908 to select a design for a Coat of Arms for the "Dominion of New Zealand". Two prizes were offered with £20 for the winner and £15 for the runner up. Entries were created by ordinary New Zealanders and the designs included everything from kiwi, sheep, cows, fern leaves, sheaves of wheat, moa and lions to stars, ships, British soldiers, Māori warriors, Union Jacks, Southern Crosses and crowns.

As mentioned in Archives NZ’s 26 August 2014 flickr photo description, three designs from the competition were selected for final judgement in England, with the winner being James McDonald from the Department of Tourism and Health Resorts.

The wining design, shown above, was “tidied up” with the Māori carvings at the bottom being replaced with ‘more conventional’ decoration, the Zealandia figure being made ‘more demure’ and the Māori figure ‘less challenging’. The royal warrant for New Zealand’s first coat of arms was issued on 26 August 1911. The lithograph of the final design can be viewed in Archives NZ’s Constitution Room. The competition entries form part of the ‘Constitutional Papers’ record group which is comprised of records relating to significant constitutional developments of New Zealand.

See more of the designs listed on Archway: www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=8341 – click on the ‘records’ tab and view the 30/Coat of Arms Competition entries.

Archives Reference: ACGO 8341 IA9/44/30 75

New Zealand Coat of Arms photostream photo www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnz/9595593076/in/photolist-...