Pick the Right Pacific Country From Its Flag
From Australia and New Zealand to Tuvalu and Nauru, identify each Oceanian flag. Free, in-browser, no signup. Spot the Southern Cross variations.
Play nowOceania carries the longest unbroken cultural memory of celestial navigation. Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian voyagers crossed thousands of kilometres of open sea by reading stars, swells and bird flights. Their flags reflect that bond with the sky. The Southern Cross flies on Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Samoa, each version slightly different. Tuvalu places nine yellow stars on a sky-blue field to map its nine inhabited islands. Kiribati shows a frigatebird soaring over a rising sun and three wavy bands for the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line groups. Nauru reduces the country to a single twelve-pointed star under a yellow horizon line. The quiz tests every one of these.
The 14 countries — Oceania
Australia
Canberra
Federated States of Micronesia
Palikir
Fiji
Suva
Kiribati
South Tarawa
Marshall Islands
Majuro
Nauru
Yaren
New Zealand
Wellington
Palau
Ngerulmud
Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby
Samoa
Apia
Solomon Islands
Honiara
Tonga
Nuku'alofa
Tuvalu
Funafuti
Vanuatu
Port Vila
Tips to play better
Australia versus New Zealand
Both flags carry the Union Jack in the canton and the Southern Cross on a blue field. Australia adds a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below the canton and shows five white stars in the cross. New Zealand has only four red stars edged in white, no Commonwealth Star.
Union Jack canton group
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands all keep the Union Jack in the upper hoist corner. Fiji uses a lighter sky blue and a coat of arms with sugar cane and a dove. Tuvalu places nine yellow stars on light blue. The Cook Islands shows fifteen white stars in a circle on dark blue.
Single-symbol Pacific flags
Vanuatu shows a black-edged horizontal Y with a yellow boar's tusk and namele leaves. Papua New Guinea splits red and black diagonally with a bird of paradise and the Southern Cross. The Marshall Islands radiates twenty-four white rays from a star at the hoist. One unique symbol locks the country.
Reading the Polynesian palette
Tonga is red with a white canton containing a red cross. Samoa shows the Southern Cross of five stars in a red field with a blue canton. Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands use bright sky blue rather than navy. Once you separate sky blue from navy, the whole Pacific lineup organises itself fast.
Frequently asked questions
Why do so many Pacific flags carry the Union Jack?
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands kept the Union Jack in their cantons after independence as a sign of continued ties to the Commonwealth and the British monarchy. Fiji has discussed removing it since the 1990s but the change has not been adopted, and recent referendums have kept the design intact.
Which is the newest flag in Oceania?
The Cook Islands updated their design in 1979, Vanuatu adopted its current flag at independence in 1980, and Niue raised a revised design in 1975. The most recent significant change is Fiji's 2015 redesign proposal which was withdrawn in 2016, leaving the colonial-era canton in place.
What does Vanuatu's boar tusk mean?
The yellow circular tusk represents prosperity and is a traditional symbol worn by men in Melanesian culture. Inside the tusk are two crossed namele leaves, used in customary peace ceremonies. The horizontal Y shape on the flag traces the layout of the archipelago across the Pacific.
Are French and American territories included?
By default the quiz lists the fourteen sovereign Oceanian states. New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and Tokelau can be enabled in the settings as a separate optional pool of dependent territories.
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