Shirley Murray

Shirley Murray MNZM
Born	Shirley Erena Cockroft (1931-03-31)31 March 1931 Invercargill, New Zealand
Died	25 January 2020(2020-01-25) (aged 88)
Occupation	Hymnwriter
Alma mater	University of Otago
Spouse	John Murray ​ ​ (m. 1954; died 2017)​
Children	3

Shirley Erena Murray MNZM (née Cockroft; 31 March 1931 – 25 January 2020) was a New Zealand hymnwriter. Her hymns have been translated into numerous languages and are represented in more than 140 hymn collections.

Biography

Born in Invercargill and raised a Methodist, she was educated at Southland Girls' High School. She earned a Master of Arts degree with honours in classics and French from the University of Otago, and later worked as a teacher, parliamentary researcher and producer of radio hymn programmes.

She married John Stewart Murray in Cambridge, England, in 1954, returning with him to New Zealand when he was appointed a Presbyterian Church minister. She eventually moved to Wellington when John became minister at St Andrew's on The Terrace from 1975 to 1993. Her hymn writing started in the 1970s and developed through the 1980s and 90s. The congregation of St Andrew's on The Terrace often became the first to try out her hymns. Her first collection of hymns, In Every Corner Sing: New Hymns to Familiar Tunes in Inclusive Language, was printed privately in 1987, in the hope new music would follow. She later worked with many different composers, including New Zealand hymn writers Colin Gibson and Jillian Bray, to set music to her hymn texts.

Her hymns have been translated into several European and Asian languages and are represented in more than 140 hymn books around the world. In addition to New Zealand, they are particularly used in North America. Among her most known hymns are "Hymn for Anzac Day", "Where Mountains Rise to Open Skies", "Our life has its Seasons", "Star Child" and "Upside Down Christmas". Professor and hymn writer Colin Gibson, who has set music to some of her songs, described Murray's hymns in 2009 as "distinguished by their inclusive language and their innovative use of Māori, their bold appropriation of secular terms and their original poetic imagery drawn from nature and domestic life, but equally by the directness with which they confront contemporary issues."

In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, Murray was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a hymn writer. In 2006, she became a fellow of the Royal School of Church Music. She received an honorary doctor of literature degree from the University of Otago in 2009. The same year, she was named a fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

Murray lived with her husband at Raumati Beach near Wellington. The couple had three children and six grandchildren. She died on 25 January 2020, having been predeceased by her husband, John Murray, in 2017.

A biography Peace is Her Song: The life and legacy of hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray was written by Anne Manchester and published in 2024.

Publications

• In Every Corner Sing (1992)
• Every Day in Your Spirit (1996)
• Faith Makes the Song (2003)
• Touch the Earth Lightly

Sources

• Manchester, Anne (7 September 2024). Peace is Her Song: The Life and Legacy of Hymn Writer Shirley Erena Murray. Philip Garside Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-991027-82-5.