The Auckland War Memorial Museum came alive on 25 April 2015, as that Saturday was ANZAC Day. This year’s dawn parade was a solemn and moving ceremony. It marked the 100th anniversary of the WWI landing in Gallipoli and the ensuing battle, which ended badly for the ANZACs.
ANZAC is an acronym for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Day is possibly the most important of our annual holidays.
Record numbers of people attended dawn or morning services throughout New Zealand and Australia, while 10,000 were allowed to commemorate the day on that beach in Gallipoli, Turkey. Although I didn’t attend the dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, I have been given permission to share these photos:
I attended a local ANZAC Day parade, leading a Girl Guide Pippin group. Out of respect, I opted to take photos only before and after the service, although I had been given permission to take them throughout the event:
The Story of the ANZACs
One of the best places to learn the story of the ANZACs was the now-closed Great War Museum in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city.
Rather than sharing the story of the ANZAC battle at Gallipoli, I will share this personal account from Lyn at A Hole in my Shoe: Lest We Forget. It’s about an ANZAC, a hero, her grandfather. As an expat with no personal attachment, I knew I could never tell it better.
She is not the only Australian or New Zealand blogger sharing an ANZAC story.
- Amy (Coming up Close) attended an ANZAC service in Mangawhai at Anzac day 2015 in Mangawhai.
- Australian Ruth (Exploramum and Explorason) share their visit to Gallipoli last year at Our tears fell where they fell – Gallipoli.
- Sally (Our3KidsvtheWorld) shared of her great-grandfather at ANZAC Day, Lest We Forget – 100 years! .
- Lyn (The Travelling Lindfields) took a different approach, sharing photos from around the world of various War Memorials – to commemorate ANZAC Day.
- Suzy (Photos are Fun) asks us “Why is it We Never Learn?” and shares photos from the ANZAC Dawn Ceremony in Wellington, New Zealand’s Capital at Peace is the Way.
I leave you with this photo of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (also called the Auckland Museum), one of the city’s best museums:
If you still want more, check out, Shadows of Anzac: An intimate history of Gallipoli
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Photo(Geo)grapher
A very interesting and moving post…
Claudya
This was a very educational post for me. Thank you.
Julie K Pick
This was such a moving tribute in words and photos. I’m glad that you included links highlighting some of the heroes. It’s also admirable that you took a group with you to one of ceremonies, and that your daughters have a heightened awareness of these events.
Joyce
Wonderful tribute. You’ve almost made it through another April.
Sue Archer
We have Remembrance Day here in November in Canada. I had not heard about ANZAC day – thanks for sharing this.
Ruth - Exploramum
Thanks so much for what you wrote and for sharing our blog too. You have some great photos and makes us proud of the men that fought for our countries.
Patrick Weseman
Very interesting and great pics. Bless their souls.
http://csuhpat1.blogspot.com/2015/04/hung-yi-at-civic-center.html
Lyn (aka) The Travelling Lindfields
Lovely post. I think Julie Bishop, the Australian Foreign Minister got it right when she recently called ANZAC Day our national day of mourning.
Nadine Feldman
What stunning, moving photos!
Heather
Thank you for posting your photos and sharing the stories from people close to this battle. It’s so important never to forget. And that’s wonderful that you were able to attend with your girl guide troop, I hope they appreciated the ceremony, even if it’s tough for the to relate to actual war.
Rhonda Albom
I am not sure how much the girls got out of the ceremony words, but you couldn’t help getting caught up in the importance and pride of the day. One of my girls wore her grandfather’s medals. Even without understanding, she knows her grandpa was a hero.
Comedy Plus
There are many war memorials here. Our servicemen are often called cowards here. There is little respect for anything healthy here and much adoration for the seedy side of life. I don’t like it one bit.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Rhonda Albom
I am always so sad when I read about what is happening to your California home town.
Alex J. Cavanaugh
What an honorable holiday. Attending the morning service must be magical.
Rhonda Albom
My neighbor left at 3.30 to get up to the dawn parade at the Auckland Museum, and they were right up front for the service. Said it was really heartfelt. Because I lead a the Pippins group, I attended locally, also an emotional ceremony, just not as early.
Chrys Fey
War Memorials are always amazing to visit. This one looks very memorable. And the pictures are lovely.
Rhonda Albom
The Memorial is memorable on it’s own, but the ceremony is really touching.
Paul F. Pietrangelo
What a beautiful post Rhonda. This shows so much respect for the past, present and future. The young people tend to forget of those that helped them where they are at today. Thank you.
Have a beautiful day my friend. See ya.
Cruisin Paul
Rhonda Albom
From my very first ANZAC parade I was impressed by the respect, pride and remembrance.
Betty
I had not heard of this until I read about it on Sean’s (His and Her Hobbies) blog the other day. A fitting tribute to those brave souls, glad the country continues to honor them and their memory years later! I don’t think we have a war memorial here but I’m so new to the town they could and I just haven’t found it yet.
betty
Anabel
Very moving. I wish we could say nothing like this would happen again, but……..
Gemma Wiseman
A very moving post. Wonderful photos and such a great idea to connect with other ANZAC stories. A most enjoyable read.
Suzy
I watched the Wellington Dawn Ceremony on TV but I missed the Friday parade which I believe was very good. The dawn ceremony was amazing – I took pictures off the TV as a remembrance. Will have to write my post soon. Thanks for sharing the awesome pictures.
Rhonda Albom
I wish I had thought to watch the Wellington service on TV. Send me your article when its done.
Hilary
Hi Rhonda – thanks for this full post with excellent photos and then the details from the linked posts – I will check on in … and try to understand a little more. The Queen attended a service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall … while Prince Charles and Prince Harry were in Gallipoli …
I’ve just seen photos of a friend’s father – a Brigadier – who is 105!! Incredible … so much has happened and so many have lived through so much .. cheers Hilary
Sally
Thank you Rhonda for featuring my post on my great grandfather’s story as an ANZAC. I loved your post and it is great to see that the Kiwi’s celebrating as we did. It was great to just how patriotic we all really are!
I love NZ, I have visited 3 times but only to the south island, I have the north island on my bucket list. Hope to get there one day soon. I have recently been adding posts to my blog on NZ as my trips to NZ were in 2009, 2012 and we dropped in briefly last year for a wedding.
Sarah
The parade we went to was very … memorable. Thank you for sharing Lyn’s post. It was interesting reading.
Lyn - A Hole in my Shoe
Thank you so much for sharing my story, it is one that is close to my heart. Our family is very proud of our Grandfather and thankful for his service and sacrifice. There is a long and close relationship between Australia and New Zealand and our shared goals in peace and war so it was fitting our Governor General joined his NZ counterpart and led the parade in Wellington, NZ for the Dawn Service to commemorate 100 years of the ANZAC tradition.