God Defend New Zealand - History

History

"God Defend New Zealand" was written as a poem in the 1870s by Irish-born, Victoria-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 Tasmanian-born John Joseph Woods of Lawrence, New Zealand 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, Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876.

The song became increasingly popular during the 19th century and 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 onward, and first used at the Olympics during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Following the performance at the Munich games, a campaign began to have the song adopted as the national anthem.

In May 1973 a remit to change the New Zealand Flag, declare a New Zealand republic and change the national anthem from God Save the Queen was voted down by the Labour Party at their national conference.

In 1976 a petition was presented to Parliament asking God Defend New Zealand to be made the national anthem, and, with the permission of Queen Elizabeth II, it became the country's second national anthem on 21 November 1977, on equal standing with "God Save the Queen". Up until then "God Save the Queen" was New Zealand's national anthem. Across the Tasman, Australia ran a plebiscite about their national song in May 1977, and adopted "Advance Australia Fair" in 1984.

An alternative official arrangement for massed singing by Maxwell Fernie was announced by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Allan Highet on 1 June 1978.