evidence: God Defend New Zealand Original Score and Lyrics 2013 As New Zealand’s national anthem, sung at every official and sporting occasion, ‘God Defend New Zealand’ (composed in Dunedin and Lawrence, New Zealand) is one of our most powerful symbols of national identity. [...] In March 1878, when Sir George Grey, then Premier of New Zealand, visited Lawrence, he was welcomed by Woods conducting a choir of 800 schoolchildren singing God Defend. Grey’s enthusiasm for the song helped transform it from a local Otago success to a work of national significance