1834 First New Zealand flag

In 1830 a New Zealand-built ship, the Sir George Murray, was seized by Customs in Sydney for breaking British navigation laws by sailing without a flag or register. As New Zealand was not yet a British colony its ships could not sail under a British flag, without which trading ships and their valuable cargoes would continue to be seized. On 20 March 1834 Busby met with some 25 northern chiefs and British naval officers to agree on a flag for the growing number of New Zealand-built ships. The chiefs chose from three designs devised by Busby and CMS missionary Henry Williams. The preferred design was one already used by the Church Missionary Society and it remained in use until the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi six years later.