Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (N.Z.) New Zealand.

1906		N.Z. Truth 4 Aug. 4/3: Here, in the capital city of ‘God’s own Country’.
1908		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 7 Aug. 8/2: Prominent among the New Zealnd device of welcome [...] is the inscription:- ‘Welcome to God’s own country’ .
1913		N.Z. Truth 23 Aug. 5/7: Joe Pawelka was getting on the nerves of the police department in ‘God’s Own’.
1915		Truth (Wellington) 22 May 7: Before he blew out to‘Gorzone’ he knew both Tommy and Betsy.
1916		Shell-shocks 66: He [i.e. Bill Massey] is sure to have all his work cut out in suitably replying to all the nice things people...will say about him and his Army of Heroes from Gors Own, down under [DNZE].
1922		N.Z. Truth 3 June 12/6: Speakling as a freelance of Canadian parentage, who [...] has knocked about all over Australia and ‘Gorzone’.
1926		in Aussie (Sydney) XV 15 Sept. (1926) (NZ Section) xvi: In the bad old days, this [far south] portion of ‘God’s own’ had a reputation, sinister and sanguinary [DNZE].
[1931		F. Cloke in Songs of N.Z. 134: [song title] God’s Own Country].
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 114: In God’s Own, we don’t keep such people.
1964		J.C. Reid Book N.Z. 25: Despite their smugness, too, about the felicities of ‘God’s Own Country’ (‘Godzone’ simply, to the irreverent) [...] New Zealanders are not completely lacking in [...] self-criticism [DNZE].
1972		A. Mitchell Half-gallon Quarter-acre Pavlova Paradise 63: In God-Zone you approach different topics with an adjustment of your volume control.
1985		J. Sherwood Botanist at Bay 38: ‘Godzone. Is that a Maori expression?’ ‘Godzone country, princess, is our proud name for complacent, fascist-governed New bloody Zealand.’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 52/1: Godzone God’s Own Country; also applied to Australia.
1998		W.J. Shirer [bk title] Mapping the Godzone: A Primer on New Zealand Literature and Culture.
2002		Campbell & Harbord Temporalities 134: [...] when white New Zealanders lived in a place known colloquially as ‘Godzone Country’.

2. (mainly Aus.) Australia; occas. also of other natives about their own country.

1908		Geraldton Guardian (WA) 19 Mar. 3/4: In Sydney 9000 children were dying for the want of the necessaries of life. This was called God’s own country; he called it ‘Hell’s own country’.
1914		Warrnambool Standard (Vic.) 9 May 3/6: Senator Ready inquired whether the Government would repudiate the statements by Mr Jacoub in the book ‘God’s Own Country’.
1923		Capricorn (Rockhampton, Qld) 16 June 41/2: There is a splendid chance ahead in this country, and it is our duty to go back and tell our Government and our men and women that [...] ‘God’s own country’ is open to them.
1936		Examiner (Launceston, Tas.) 16 June 10/5: Passing such a proposal [...] he said, would send God’s Own Country at top speed to the devil.
1938		Cairns Post (Qld) 28 June 6/6: I have enjoyed my brief stay in Queensland [...] it is truly ‘God’s Own Country’.
1944		Courier Mail (Brisbane) 5 Dec. 4/3: Australia is spoken of as God’s Own Country but that cannot be truly said.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 63: The Yanks had a different system: they shipped theirs back to Australia in cold storage to wait for a boat back to God’s own.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 28: Godzone: Short for Godzone Country; Australia.
1994		I. Craven Aus. Popular Culture 59: Ian Turner, who fears that the Australian dream of a better society was fading in the 1960s ‘Godzone country’ era of suburban materialism [etc.].
2003		Guardian G2 5 June 3: ‘I take it you’re Australian.’ ‘Too right, mate – a citizen of Godzone.’.