God Defend New Zealand

Lore & Background

The poem was written in the 1870s by Irish-born, Victorian-raised immigrant Thomas Bracken of Dunedin. A competition to compose music for the poem was held in 1876 by The Saturday Advertiser and judged by three prominent Dunedin musicians, with a prize of ten guineas. The winner was the Vandemonian-born (i.e., born in Tasmania) John Joseph Woods of Lawrence, Otago, who composed the melody in a single sitting the evening after finding out about the competition.

The song was first performed at the Theatre Royal in Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876. A Māori version was produced in 1878 by Thomas Henry Smith of Auckland, a judge in the Native Land Court, on request of Premier George Edward Grey. In 1940 the New Zealand government bought the copyright and made it New Zealand's 'national hymn' in time for that year's centennial celebrations. With the consent of Queen Elizabeth II, the government of Robert Muldoon gazetted the song as the country's second national anthem on 21 November 1977, on equal standing with "God Save the Queen".

Reader's Guide

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has responsibility for the national anthems. The guidelines in the 1977 Gazette notice advise that the royal anthem would be appropriate at any occasion where the monarch, a member of the royal family or the governor-general is officially present, or when loyalty to the Crown is to be stressed; while "God Defend New Zealand" would be appropriate whenever the national identity of New Zealand is to be stressed, even in association with a toast to the reigning head of state. There are no regulations governing the performance of "God Defend New Zealand", leaving citizens to exercise their best judgment. When it is performed at an event, etiquette is for the audience to stand during the performance.