[3] Bracken was apprenticed to a pharmacist in Bendigo,[3] later moved around to work on farms as a shearer and drover, and for a time was a gold fossicker and store keeper.

[5] While at the Guardian he met John Bathgate who soon after, in 1875, established the Saturday Advertiser "to foster a national spirit in New Zealand and encourage colonial literature".

[3] Bracken became editor and immediately began to encourage local writers; the Advertiser’s circulation reached 7,000 copies which was a notable achievement for that era.

Encouraged by this literary and commercial success, Bracken contributed some of his own satire, humour and verse, including God Defend New Zealand, published in 1876, which became the national anthem.

[4][5] A supporter of the egalitarian policies of Governor Sir George Grey, Bracken championed sovereignty for the native Māori people, and later criticised the government for what he saw to be breaches of its obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Bracken's national anthem asks God to "guard Pacific’s triple star", and some historians have reasoned that refers to Te Kooti's flag and is his oblique support for Māori.

[citation needed] It has also been suggested that "Pacific’s triple star" simply means the three main islands of New Zealand – Northern, Middle and Stewart as they were referred to at that time.