Empire Day (24 May), was celebrated widely in New Zealand from 1903 and was a major event in the Vice-regal calendar.
Our Union Jack, on Empire Day
Floats proudly in the breeze;
Not here alone, but far away
In lands across the seas.
Wherever British children dwell
Or British folk may be,
On Empire Day our flag shall tell
That we are Britons free...
'Tis thus it speaks, our Union Jack
Its message from the mast
To follow in the noble track
Of heroes in the past
New Zealand School Journal, Part III, June 1922
By Gavin McLean
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