New Caledonia flies two official flags. One is the French Tricolore, in place since France claimed the territory in 1853. The other is the flag associated with the indigenous Kanak people. The Congress of New Caledonia voted on July 13, 2010, by 42 votes out of 54, to fly it alongside the Tricolore, and the two went up together for the first time four days later, on July 17, at the Haut-Commissariat in Nouméa with the French prime minister present. That came after years of conflict and negotiation over the territory's status.
Two flags, one territory
The dual arrangement came out of the Nouméa Accord process of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which set a framework for coexistence between Kanak and French identities and laid out a path to later referendums on independence. Raising the Kanak flag next to the Tricolore was a compromise: it acknowledged Kanak claims without displacing French sovereignty, which is roughly the position the territory has occupied ever since.
Reading the Kanak flag
Blue and red are the dominant colors, with a roundel across the middle. Blue is the Pacific that surrounds the islands and also ties the flag to France. Red is the struggle for independence and the Kanak lives lost in it.
Inside the roundel is a speared hut, a form drawn from Kanak architecture and ritual. It stands for ancestry and lineage and for the connection between Kanak communities and their land.
Where the flags fly
The Kanak flag flies alongside the Tricolore at public buildings and schools and during official events, national celebrations, and protests. Hoisting protocols are handled carefully, since the pairing is itself the political statement.
Comparisons
The blue and red tie the Kanak flag visually to the French Tricolore. Elsewhere in the Pacific, flags commonly carry motifs taken from local culture and the natural environment, and other French territories, French Polynesia among them, have gone through similar processes of setting indigenous symbols alongside French ones.
References
[1] Congress of New Caledonia - Official website [https://www.congress.nc]
[2] CRW Flags - New Caledonia [https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/nc.html]
[3] Encyclopaedia Britannica - New Caledonia [https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Caledonia]