God of Nations at thy feet

God of Nations at thy feet. Thomas Bracken (1843-1898). New Zealand’s second national anthem, of equal official standing with its first, ‘God Save the Queen’, is a hymn written in 1876 by Thomas Bracken, Irish-born journalist, poet and parliamentarian. The text was published in a weekly journal under the title ‘National hymn’ together with a competition to compose a suitable melody. The winner was John Joseph Woods (1849-1932), an Otago schoolteacher. In 1940, at the time of New Zealand's Centennial celebrations, ‘God defend New Zealand’ as it is popularly known, was adopted as the country's national hymn; it became its second official national anthem — and its most popular one — in 1977...