Sorry, anthem should really be 'God Defend Maori'

By ALAN PERROTT

A fresh look at the national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, suggests that its creator, Thomas Bracken, set out to write a pro-Maori call for racial unity.

Under the microscope is a mysterious line midway through the first verse: "Guard Pacific's triple star."

Was he referring to the stars of the Southern Cross? The main islands of New Zealand? Or was it a clumsy attempt to find a rhyme with "strife and war"?

Research now points to the connection between the three stars of the anthem and the three stars featured on several Maori battle flags flown during the New Zealand Wars.

Bracken, an Irishman with strong anti-colonial sentiments, arrived in the midst of the second phase of the wars as Te Kooti fought his guerrilla campaign in the Urewera.

Te Kooti's flag, now kept at the Wanganui museum and sometimes called the Maori Union Jack, was the third Maori flag to feature the triple star. Its predecessors, Te Paerangi and Te Paekinga, emerged in the upper Wanganui region and became related to the King movement. Te Paerangi is now in Te Papa.

North Shore military historian Colin Andrews has linked the star motif to Tane's three baskets of knowledge in Maori creation legends and imagery developed by Maori to depict the three major islands of New Zealand. He interprets the anthem as a call to God to protect the Maori during the New Zealand wars.

His research will feature in a book, Hear Our Voices We Entreat, by Max Cryer, on the meaning and history of the anthem. It will be released in October. Mr Cryer declined to comment until his book is published.

Mr Andrews said Bracken worked as a journalist on the the Otago Guardian newspaper in Dunedin during the wars and would have known the significance of the triple stars.

The poet, writer and two-time Liberal MP held strong pro-Maori sentiments. In his maiden speech, he called the Government's attack on the Parihaka pacifist movement and detention of its leaders Te Whiti and Tohu dishonourable breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

He was also known to refer to New Zealand as Maoriland and New Zealanders as Maorilanders, and wrote several poems in honour of Maori leaders.

Mr Andrews said the significance of the three stars must have been known when the song was published as the first Government-commissioned translation into Maori replaced "Guard Pacific's triple star, From the shafts of strife and war" with "Let goodness flourish, May your blessings flow."

It is also notable that the cover page of Bracken's original anthem manuscript featured two flags, the 1834 flag of the United Tribes and the royal ensign of Queen Victoria, but not the Union Jack.

A spokesman for the poet's descendants, Dr Tom Bracken, supported Mr Andrews' work.

"Thomas was obviously an admirer of Maori and Maori culture, it comes through very strongly in his books. We're really rather proud to have a connection to him."

Bracken wrote his poem some time before it was set to music in 1876. It became the national hymn in 1940 and in 1977 was declared the official national anthem by Queen Elizabeth.