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"God Defend New Zealand"
(National Anthem)

Click Here for the
Music The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra kindly recorded a performance of the National Anthem especially for the New Zealand Information Home Page. Click the image at the start of the paragraph to hear it.[1]

I would like to express my extreme gratitude to those who made it possible:


God Defend New Zealand


Words by Thomas Bracken, music by John J. Woods
Music for the first verse follows.

God of nations! at Thy feet
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our Free Land.
Guard Pacific's triple star,
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand

Men of ev'ry creed and race
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our Free Land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our State,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

Peace, not war, shall be our boast,
But, should foes assail our coast,
Make us then a mighty host,
God defend our Free Land.
Lord of battles in thy might,
Put our enemies to flight,
Let our cause be just and right,
God defend New Zealand.

Let our love for Thee increase,
May Thy blessings never cease,
Give us plenty, give us peace,
God defend our Free Land.
From dishonour and from shame
Guard our country's spotless name
Crown her with immortal fame,
God defend New Zealand.

May our mountains ever be
Freedom's ramparts on the sea,
Make us faithful unto Thee,
God defend our Free Land.
Guide her in the nations' van,
Preaching love and truth to man,
Working out Thy Glorious plan,
God defend New Zealand.

This version of the national anthem was published in the Listener in 1940.
Contributed by nvtuan@deepthnk.kiwi.gen.nz (Tuan Nguyen) 07 Oct 1994


Dale Gold contributed this image.

Maori Version

There are also Maori words to the anthem (untimely ripped from Jennifer George's NZ Songs page).

E Ihoa Atua,
O nga Iwi Matoura,
Ata whaka rongona;
Me aroha noa.
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau to atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Ona mano tangata
Kiri whero, kiri ma,
Iwi Maori Pakeha
Repeke katoa,
Nei ka tono ko nga he
Mau e whakaahu ke,
Kia ora marire
Aotearoa

Waiho tona takiwa
Ko te ao marama;
Kia whiti tona ra
Taiawhio noa.
Ko te hae me te ngangau
Meinga kia kore kau;
Waiho i te rongo mau
Aotearoa

Tona pai me toitu;
Tika rawa, pono pu;
Tona noho, tana tu;
Iwi no Ihoa.
Kaua mona whakama;
Kia hau te ingoa;
Kia tu hei tauira;
Aotearoa

Back to NZ Culture
[1] The original recording is a CD quality DAT. I have converted it to an approximately 0.56Mb sun audio file for inclusion here. As web technology improves I shall improve the file served. My apologies for any loss of quality, and my thanks to Ricky Houghton and Arthur McNair at CMU who helped to move the data from the DAT to a computer. The copyright for the recording remains with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Do not duplicate it without their permission.
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