The halfpenny features the head of the reigning monarch on the obverse, with a hei-tiki pendant ornamented and simplified kowhaiwhai woodcarvings on the reverse.

[2] Beginning in 1857, significant shortages of small denominations of coinage led to the production of penny and halfpenny tokens by local traders.

By 1936, members were hesitant to press for an imminent introduction of pennies and halfpennies due to the possible institution of a decimalised currency, for which the coinage would be abolished in favour of a one cent piece.

The first features a geyser flanked by two small hei-tiki, Māori greenstone pendants; his alternate design includes the head of a traditional taiaha staff.

[13] Metcalfe likewise submitted two halfpenny designs, both variations on the Southern Cross, with one featuring the Golden Fleece of the New Zealand coat of arms suspended from the top star.

[14] Leonard Cornwall Mitchell submitted a halfpenny design featuring a hei-tiki adapted from a rejected threepence reverse by George Kruger Gray.

In 1933, Sutherland had managed to dissuade the Royal Mint from approving the threepence hei-tiki design, due to misconceptions of the figure as a fertility charm; some period sources claimed the symbol represented a "personified phallus".

[15] Due to greater familiarity with Māori iconography, Mitchell was able to produce a more accurate figure flanked by simplified kowhaiwhai woodcarvings.

Although the Advisory Committee recommended the removal or reduction of the woodcarving motif, an urgent request by the New Zealand government for the coinage to enter circulation prevented any redesign.