God Defend New Zealand - Lyrics

Lyrics

"God Defend New Zealand" has five verses, each in English and Māori. The Māori version is not a direct translation of the English version. The Māori language version was produced in 1878 by Thomas H. Smith of Auckland, a judge in the Native Land Court, on request of Governor George Edward Grey, and in 1979 this was back-translated into English by former Māori Language Commissioner, Professor Timoti S. Kāretu.

Copyright on the English lyrics for "God Defend New Zealand" expired from the end of the year, which was 50 years after the death of the author (Bracken), i.e., from 1 January 1949. The copyright has been purchased by the government. Kāretu's back-translation is under New Zealand Crown copyright until 2079.

Until the 1990s, only the first verse of the English version was commonly sung. It was not until 1999, when a public debate emerged after only the first Māori verse was sung at the Rugby World Cup match against England, did it become common to sing both the Māori and English first verses one after the other. The second and last English verses may also be sung, but the third and fourth are rarely used.