God Defend New Zealand - National Anthem of New Zealand (Instrumental)

"God Defend New Zealand" was written as a poem 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 Melbourne musicians, with a prize of ten guineas. The winner of the competition was the Vandemonian-born 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 Queen's Theatre, Princes Street in Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876. In February 1878, sheet music was published. A Māori version of the song was produced in 1878 by Thomas Henry Smith of Auckland, a judge in the Native Land Court, on request of Premier George Edward Grey. A copy of the Māori lyrics, using Aotearoa for its title, was printed in Otago newspapers in October 1878. The song became increasingly popular during the early 20th century, and 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. It was used at the British Empire Games from 1950 onwards, and first used at the Olympics during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. "God Save the Queen" was New Zealand's sole national anthem until the 1970s. In May 1973 a remit to change the New Zealand flag, declare a New Zealand republic and change the national anthem was voted down by the Labour Party at their national conference. In 1976 Garth Henry Latta from Dunedin presented a petition to Parliament asking "God Defend New Zealand" to be made the national anthem. With the permission 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". The painting depicts Captain William Hobson, arriving at Waitangi to sign the treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

Added 9 Aug 2026