Flag, Imperial Germany ["Foreign Office State Flag, 1892-1919"].

The flag is associated with the German Colonial administration of Western Samoa (1900-1914). It has been identified as Reichsdienstflagge im Bereiche des Auswärtigen Amtes (the National Service Flag in the Competence of the Foreign Office). This flag was adopted in 1892 and 1893 and used by the authorities of the Reich (such as Governors). It functioned like a civil ensign in German protected territories such as Samoa which did not have their own flag.(1)

This flag design comprises of black, white and red stripes with a white central disk where an Imperial Eagle is depicted with the Imperial Crown. This example is almost 4m by 2.5m in size.

Significance

This flag is one of several flags documented as being souvenired by New Zealand troops who captured the territory from Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Newspaper records of the period tell us that in the decades after the war, several flags captured in Samoa made their way into the collections of the Dominion Museum (Te Papa’s predecessor) and Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Acquisition History

This flag was owned by R. M. Watson, a Wellington barrister who enlisted and went to Samoa in 1914, where he later served as an Acting Judge in the New Zealand Administration. He is known for writing "A History of Samoa" that was published in 1918. Later, the flag was given to Mr T.L.Seddon, a Mayor of Feilding. In 1962 it was gifted to the museum by Mr Norman Seddon.

Notes:

1.(Illustrated in Crampton 1990 p. 42 (which is a copy of Meyers Konversationslexikon 1912, vol. 4, facing p. 799), National Geographic 1917 p. 367, no. 1009). Information from www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags

Sources:

Liava’a, C. (2009) Qaravi Na’i Tavi They Did their Duty: Soldiers from Fiji in the Great war. Auckland, Polygraphia Ltd.

Evening Star, Issue 22863, 22 January 1938 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19380122.2.48