Last modified: 2019-12-10 by ian macdonald
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![[Flag in Matica magazine]](../images/n/nz-tarara.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 24 October 2016
Almost five year ago Miles Li sent me off-list a photo from the front page of
the magazine "Matica" showing a possible New Zealand Croatian flag of
unusual design. It took me some time to find out a bit more about it, and
eventually the "Matica" became available on-line, so we may also peek
into the article in it regarding the issue.
To cut the long story short -
in New Zealand lives and thrives a small community of people of mixed descent
from the Dalmatian Croats and local Maori. The Dalmatians immigrated in the
second half of the 19th century seeking work as kauri gum-diggers in Northland,
and intermarried with Maori. Their descendants are known in Maori as "Tarara"
(meaning "fast speakers"), the name locals gave to the original Dalmatian
workers. The New Zealand Encyclopedia at
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/30253/tarara-day claims that Tarara
have a highly regarded place in present-day Maoridom. A bit more on it can be
found at
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/dalmatians/page-6 and linked pages.
Radio
New Zealand shows a photo from the Tarara Day celebrations at
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/spectrum/20090426 where the
usual Croatian flag may be seen.
The magazine "Matica", the
monthly magazine of the Croatian heritage foundation, in its nr. 5 of May 2012
shows a group of Tarara children and an unusual flag flying above them. In the
recent past (at least since the last time I looked, and it may have been some
years in between) issues of Matica became available on line; see
http://www.matis.hr/images/pdf/MATICE/2012/Matica%205_2012.pdf
On
pp. 33-35 is an article on Maori of Croatian origin including a report on a
documentary film "Novozelandske priče" by Tanja Kanceljak. A still from the film
on p. 34 shows the same children and the flag.
The next clue comes from
the web site of the Croatian Television Documentary Program on Facebook, at
https://www.facebook.com/Dokumentarni-HTV-293968967376912/photos/?tab=album&album_id=418353314938476,
presenting 36 photos from the mentioned film, including the close-up photo of
the flag at
https://www.facebook.com/293968967376912/photos/a.418353314938476.1073741832.293968967376912/418354048271736/?type=1&theater.
Also the film is presented on the TV guide at
http://mojtv.hr/film/15513/novozelandske-price.aspx with maybe a better
close-up of the flag:
http://mojtv.hr//images/7842f21e-bfb4-40fd-ac47-582599e0a2de.jpg.
The flag is a four striped top to bottom red-white-blue-green with a black
triangle in the hoist with the Croatian coat of arms in the centre. The triangle
is edged towards the hoist with a white stripe with black chevrons, and towards
the fly with green, in the upper half, and red koru spiral ornaments, in the
lower half.
One may jump to the conclusion that this is the Tarara flag,
but one should be careful about it. It is obviously a Tarara flag, but its exact
meaning still remains mystery - it may be a flag of some organization of the
Tarara community, or of some even or simply an occasional flag.
I have
contacted Prof. Senka Vrbanić Božić, from the University of Zadar Sociology
Department, who happens to be the expert on the Tarara community, and who
published a book on their identity "Tarara: Croats and Maori in New Zealand -
memory, belonging, identity", 2008. See
http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/10214/1/Tarara-Croats-and-Maori-in-New-Zealand-monograph-by-Senka-Bozic-Vrbancic.html.
She seemed unfamiliar with that particular flag, and wrote (my translation):
"From my personal experience [with Tarara community], I can tell you that flags,
as well as any other symbols, appearing during the manifestations of
Croatian-Maori connections are made after oral traditions of both groups. They
would differ from one location to another, and are often for a singular occasion
use."
In view of this, I guess we should indeed assume this to be one
such occasional flag, unless we get further evidence on the issue.
Željko
Heimer, 24 October 2016
A bit more background:
Most Croatian settlers moved to the far north of the country, which also has the strongest Maori population, so not surprisingly there are very few Tarara in this part of the country (a term I'd not heard before). Many of the early Dalmatian settlers were more liked by the Maori than by the British settlers (who called them by the term "Dallies" - originally an insult but now generally accepted as a neutral term). There are a lot of well-known New Zealanders of Croatian descent, perhaps most notably pop singer Lorde (Ella Yelich-O'Connor) - others include sportspeople Frano Botica, Frank Nobilo, Marina Erakovic, and Ivan Vicelich, historian James Belich, artist Milan Mrkusic, and television presenter Simon Mercep, and many of the country's top wine producers are of Croatian descent (such as the Nobilo, Babich, and Fistonich families)If anyone is interested in more about the Tarara, this appears to be the most authoritative work on the subject: http://www.otago.ac.nz/press/books/otago071753.html
This is my family flag.
The Sarich family flag was designed by my parents Ivan and Carlette Sarich (Nee Flavell) for our family reunion in the 1990s. It is used at family events for the descendants of Ivan and Kare Sarich (Nee Toia).
Kennedy Sarich, 31 October 2019
