Against a background of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Afghanistan, ANZAC Day 2022 challenged many Wellington youth to appreciate the war sacrifice of our ancestors and pray for peace, to ‘remember them.’ As part of programmed visits and a range of events, the young people joined a pilgrimage around Wellington’s military sites Read more
A decision to invite a Muslim cleric to say a prayer at an Anzac Day service has sparked an anguished backlash from veterans. The Returned and Services Association (RSA) branch at Titahi Bay near Wellington has moved the Muslim prayer from its 6 am dawn service to its 10 am civic ceremony after some veterans Read more
A spectacular light and sound show was projected on to the side of the historic St David’s church, Auckland, on Anzac Day today. The technicolour performance marked the last year of World War I and events in New Zealand to remember our nation’s involvement. Continue reading
The graves of 18 Cook Islands World War I ANZACs have been restored and protected from the encroaching sea in Rarotonga. A group of volunteers, including the descendants of the veterans, have spruced up their grave sites by concreting and painting them. They also repaired the headstones, as part of the Nikao Cemetery Restoration Project. Read more
On Anzac Day a group small elderly Whanganui women took part in a peace vigil. They were Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends, who strive to “bring about God’s will without the use of force or violence.” Quakers refuse to take part in war and preparation for war; and oppose the culture of militarism. Read more
St Peter’s College, Gore, was one of many schools to set up a Field of Remembrance to commemorate ANZAC day. During a very moving service, members of the student council placed 30 white crosses on the embankment below the Chapel. Each school and kura in New Zealand (including independent and integrated schools) has been given 30 Read more
“The future of the Church is in good hands,” Kitty McKinley, founder of Challenge 2000, says. McKinley is the founder of Challenge 2000, a youth development organisation based in Johnsonville, Wellington. On ANZAC weekend Challenge staff, volunteers, gap students and locals produced moving performances that recognised and remembered those who gave their lives and fought for Read more
A century ago, in a misconceived encounter on the history-soaked precipices of Asia Minor, the sons of Anzac received their battle initiation against the German-trained forces of the Ottoman Empire. Now, in an annual event that grows in mythology and status in proportion to the passing of the years, is celebrated the shared combat ordeal Read more
I am always conflicted by the Anzac Day remembrances and the call to honour the “glorious dead”. Nothing about war is glorious, regardless of who wins; and if the dead could speak, their first utterance would be to ask why. No war is “good” or “just” or “necessary” from the standpoint of the aggressor, though Read more
New Zealand Marist priest, David Mullins won selection from the New Zealand ANZAC Gallipoli 2015 centenary commemoration ballot and will travel to Gallipoli next year. Fr Mullins will join 2,000 other New Zealanders commemorating 100 years since the ANZAC landing on the peninsula in Turkey, where more than 8,500 and 2,721 New Zealand soldiers lost Read more