Join us for live coverage of the Anzac dawn service 2024, from Gisborne and Auckland NZ.
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Thousands across Hawke’s Bay gathered at dawn for ceremonies in remembrance of Anzac Day.
An estimated 2500 people were at the Sound Shell in Napier, while another couple of thousand at least were estimated at the Civic Square in Hastings.
Veterans, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren proudly wore medals, while waka floated off Napier’s beach and planes flew in formation in the skies over Hastings.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst told attendees in her speech at the Hastings service about the sacrifice made by locals in the Anzac spirit.
The dawn parade for the Hastings Anzac Day service. Photo / Paul Taylor
Lucca Forbes, of Napier, named after the town where his great-grandfather was a prisoner of war (POW). Photo / Warren Buckland
“Today, we remember those whose names are etched on our Roll of Honour. Ten of those men, many of them teenagers, were from the Hastings Methodist Church Bible class. Thirty-four Bible class members departed our shores for the Great War. Ten, never returned. Of the remaining 24, almost all were wounded,” Hazlehurst said.
“George Wallace Loach was among them, he ran a plumbing business with his younger brother Percy from a workshop in Heretaunga St. Wounded at the Dardanelles, in July 1915, George wrote home to comfort his father, saying he was doing quite well. A month later, at Gallipoli, on August 8, 1915, George was killed in the battle for Chunuk Bair.
“George’s sacrifice, like so many others, epitomise the Anzac spirit, passed on to us from battlefields long ago; a spirit that lives in our hearts. Today, we pay tribute to them.”
Asher Waerea, 6, wearing his great-grandfather Dave Cotter's service medals to the Hastings dawn service. Photo / Paul Taylor
Students from several Hawke’s Bay schools laid wreaths, Heretaunga girl guides marched and the Hastings Salvation Army band played for the service at the Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital, attended by about 350 people, including nurses.
Guest speaker John White, Pou Whirinaki, spoke about “the price of citizenship and the 28th Battalion” as Hawke’s Bay East Coast Aero Club flew overhead.
Other services took place after dawn across Hawke’s Bay, including at Havelock North, Clive, Maraekakaho and Rissington.
Services in Hawke’s Bay and Tararua continued into the early afternoon.
Sneha Jensen, of Sacred Heart College in Napier, lays a wreath at the service at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital. Photo / Warren Buckland
Recaro Kotua, 14, with a portrait of his koro PTE Frank Kotua at the Takapau Anzac service. Photo / Paul Taylor
President of Taradale RSA Brayden Coldicutt said the Taradale dawn service at 6am and civic service at 8.45am both drew the biggest turnouts he had seen.
He estimated more than 500 people attended the dawn service ceremony, including a 100-year-old and a 102-year-old who were both returned servicemen.
“Weather was on-point which is always fantastic and it was a really well-run service. Everything went smoothly,” Coldicutt said.
The civic service opened with a parade march led by the Napier Pipe Band and a flyover by the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
He thanked the Taradale community for taking the time and energy to come out and be there for both services.
“What I really liked personally was all of our local schools were still there representing, considering it is school holidays. They were all there in uniform which was amazing to see.”
