God Defend New Zealand is one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, together with God Save the King. The words were written in the 1870s by Thomas Bracken, an Irish-born poet and newspaper owner in Dunedin, and a competition-winning tune was composed for them by the schoolteacher John Joseph Woods. The anthem was first performed in public in 1876, and it was given a Maori-language version, translated at around the time it was written. It became popular over the years, and in 1977 the government proclaimed it a national anthem with equal status. At public events it is now normally sung with the first verse in Maori and the second in English.
Before and after
- 31 December 1869Birth of Henri Matisse
- 1870Founding of Commerzbank AG
- 1870Construction of Metropolitan Museum of Art
- from c. 1870s to 1900sGilded Age
- c. 1870sPublication of God Defend New Zealand
- 7 February 1870Birth of Alfred Adler
- 22 April 1870Birth of Vladimir Lenin
- 9 June 1870Death of Charles Dickens
- from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
More in Art, literature & culture
- 10 August 1793Construction of Louvre Museum
- 1 November 1800Construction of White House
- 17 November 1869Construction of Suez Canal
- 1886Statue of Liberty
- 1894Radio
- c. 1900sRise of modernism
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.