Te Kooti flag

An ink drawing by Gilbert Mair of Te Kooti’s triangular pennant, ‘Te Wepu’ (the whip). This flag was made for Ngāti Kahungunu by nuns at the Greenmeadows Missionary School. It measured 52 ft (16 m) by 4 ft (1.2 m). Captured by Te Kooti in 1868, it remained in his possession until seized by Gilbert Mair near Rotorua in 1870. Te Wepu was decorated with a crescent moon, a cross, a six-pointed star, a mountain representing New Zealand, and a bleeding heart that is thought to have symbolised the sufferings of the Māori people.