God Defend New Zealand / Aotearoa

Did you know that 'God Defend New Zealand' is actually New Zealands second national anthem?

'God Save the Queen' was the New Zealand national anthem until about 140 years ago when a man named Thomas Bracken from Dunedin wrote it as a poem. They did a competition to see who could write the best music for the poem a few years later. However, it was over a hundred years after that, in 1977, that the Queen said it was OK for us to use it as our national anthem.

The New Zealand flag

This is a picture of our New Zealand flag.
It is blue with a red and white cross called the 'Union Jack' in the top left corner. There are 4 red and white stars on it which are shaped like a group of stars called the 'Southern Cross'. You can usually see those stars outside on a clear night.
Can you find the Southern Cross?

Did you know?
• No matter where you are in New Zealand, you are never more than 128km from the ocean.
• New Zealand has a population of about four million people. Of those, 1.2 million live in Auckland.
• There are more Scottish pipe bands per head of population in New Zealand than in Scotland.
• Lake Taupo, was formed by the world's biggest recorded eruption in the last 75,000 years. The dust from the eruption could be seen as far away as Rome and China.
• New Zealand was the first democracy in the West that gave women the right to vote.
• New Zealand is home to the largest flightless parrot (kakapo), oldest reptile (tuatara) and heaviest insect (a weta) in the world.

Information on this page was mostly gotten from from the ANZAC New Zealand website.
You can visit it here if you'd like to learn more.

Anzac Day is held every year on the 25th April in New Zealand and Australia as a day to remember those people who died fighting for our country.
It is also a day to honour those men and women who spent time looking after and those who still do look after our country. And we're not just talking about the people in the army or navy who have to go and fight in wars.
There are lots of people you might see every day who deserve to be remembered on Anzac Day. Like;
• Doctors and nurses
• Police officers
• Firemen and women
• People in the Coastguard
Can you think of any more?

Anzac dedication
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Recipe
This is a basic recipe for ANZAC biscuits.
This should make a slightly sweet and chewy biscuit. You can add other things to the recipe to make different flavours. Things like dried fruit, nuts, or spices such as ginger.
Step 1. Melt 115 grams butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons of golden syrup.
Step 2. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water.
Step 3. Mix in: 1 cup of rolled oats, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of coconut, 1/2 cup of sugar.
Step 4. Drop tablespoons of the mixture onto baking paper, and bake until a pale golden colour (about 15 minutes) at 180 degrees celcius.

Information on this page was mostly gotten from from the Wikipedia website.
You can visit it here if you'd like to learn more.

Waitangi Day is a public holiday in New Zealand held every year on February 6th to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Treaty was signed in the year 1840 on the grounds of the Waitangi Treaty House up near Paihia. There is a really large flag pole on the spot the Treaty was signed which was donated by the New Zealand Navy.

In 1932, the grounds where the Treaty was first signed were gifted to New Zealand in trust by Lord and Lady Bledisloe. Lord Bledisloe was a former Governor General of New Zealand.
You might also know that the 'Bledisloe Cup' is named after Lord Bledisloe as well.

Did you know?
Before the Treaty was signed and New Zealand was recognised as it's own country we were actually governed as another part of Australia. Scary huh?