Robert James Pope (24 March 1865 – 12 April 1949) was a New Zealand poet, songwriter, violinist, cricketer, teacher, and headmaster.
As late as 1970, a letter to a newspaper suggested it as an alternative to Thomas Bracken's ‘God Defend New Zealand’.
The latter collection contains a good deal of Pope's light verse written in a more modern style to the earlier Romantic and colonial lyrics of his first book.
He was a regular contributor to Percy Flage’s Postscripts column in the Evening Post (1931–45) and contributed poems to New Zealand Life.
In 1929 Pope also contributed an article on the correct pronunciation of Maori place names to the Evening Post.
[8] Pope donated his scrapbook and music book to the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
His daughter Eileen Fortune donated more papers and cuttings relating to her father to the Turnbull after his death.
1, Autumn 2010; and the article was reprinted in the Wellington College Old Boys' magazine The Lampstand, October 2010 and on Pirie’s blog Tingling Catch.
In February 2011, a YouTube video called 'My Home and My Heartland' featured an adaptation of Robert J. Pope's song 'New Zealand, My Homeland'.