evidence: God Defend New Zealand [...] God Defend New Zealand, one of the two national anthems of New Zealand (the other being God Save the Queen, national anthem of the United Kingdom). The words to the anthem were written in the early 1870s by Thomas Bracken, who offered a prize of £10 for the best musical setting of it. The winning music was composed by John J. Woods, and the resulting hymn was first publicly performed in 1876. In 1940 the government declared God Save New Zealand to be the national hymn, or unofficial anthem (God Save the Queen had long been the national anthem), and the hymn’s copyright was purchased by the government. In 1977, however, God Defend New Zealand was given equal status with God Save the Queen as New Zealand’s other national anthem. Its text is as follows. [...] God defend New Zealand.