John Joseph Woods
| John Joseph Woods | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1849 Van Diemen's Land |
| Died | 1934 Lawrence, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Citizenship | British/New Zealand |
| Spouse(s) | Harriet Plunket |
| Children | 4 |
John Joseph Woods was a New Zealand teacher and songwriter. He is best known for winning a competition to set "God Defend New Zealand", a poem by Thomas Bracken, to music. By doing this, he composed the tune to what later became New Zealand's national anthem. Woods was also the Tuapeka County Council clerk for 55 years.
Woods was born in the then colony of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in 1849 into an Irish family with fourteen other children, seven boys and seven girls. His father was a soldier. After teaching in Tasmania for nine years, he migrated to New Zealand as a young man and worked for a time in Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. Eight years teaching in New Zealand led to a position as the head teacher of St Patrick's School in Lawrence, Otago, and he moved there from Invercargill in 1874. Woods was known as a good musician. He was choirmaster of the local Catholic church, and could play twelve different instruments, though he was best known for his skill on the violin. Singing a solo at his own wedding, Woods established that he was also a competent singer.
While in Lawrence, Woods taught alongside an Irish widow called Harriet Conway (née Plunket) who already had two sons. They were married in September 1874 and had four children together, three sons and a daughter named Mary.
In 1902, Woods built a house of brick and wood on the corner of Lismore and Lancaster Streets which was his residence until he died in 1934. It is now under the care of the Historic Places Trust, which mounted a plaque on the street-facing back wall commemorating his composition of the national anthem.
One night in the winter of June 1876, Woods read about the competition in the Saturday Advertiser. According to tradition, he usually met the coach that delivered the news in the main street of Lawrence to pick up his paper. It was already 9 pm, but he went straight to his piano and in that one sitting composed the tune for what later became the national anthem. In a later letter to A.H. Reed, he explained that the words inspired him so much he had to write music for them. He entered his composition under the nom de plume of "Orpheus". The Advertiser sent it off with the eleven other submissions to Melbourne, where judging had been arranged by George Musgrove. In October 1876, it was announced that the three independent judges unanimously agreed that Woods' composition was the clear winner. The prize was ten guineas.
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