ANZAC services
By Chrys Ayley
ANZAC day this year falls on a Saturday and plans are well underway to honour the personnel that sacrificed their lives at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.
Chairman of the Petone Community Board, Gerald Davidson confirmed there are two services planned for Petone.
The first at Petone Station commences at 7am followed by a civic service at 8.30am at the Garden of Remembrance, Memorial Park, Petone.
The ceremony at the station is attended mainly by railway men and women, representatives from ONTRACK and Community Board members, Mr Davidson said.
The first ceremony, to remember the railway men of Australia and New Zealand that lost their lives at Gallipoli, was held in 1916.
It is understood to have been one of the first, if not the first, ANZAC ceremonies ever and was attended by the Prime Minister, the cabinet and a veritable who’s who of politicians and local councillors.
Unusually the ceremony was held at 3pm, rather than the standard 8am, to cater for a guest, the Minister of Railways who was arriving by train from Auckland.
The 20 metre flagstaff unveiled that day was especially made at the Petone workshop and was crafted from New Zealand kauri and Australian hardwood to symbolise the solidarity between railwaymen of the two countries.
During the original ceremony an Australian ceremonial Ensign was unfurled which had been presented by the railwaymen of Hornsby, Sydney.
A similar ceremony was held in Australia where an Ensign presented by Petone Railway men was unfurled.
The Petone flagstaff was restored in 2004 and the ceremony today remains true to spirit with the unfurling of an Australian Red Ensign, a standard design from that era, Mr Davidson said.
The ANZAC civic ceremony which starts at 8.30am at Memorial Park is expected to attract crowds of up to 400 people with many families and younger people attending, in addition to former servicemen and their relatives, Mr Davidson said.
After the ceremony there is an open invitation for people to stroll to the Petone Soccer Club Rooms for refreshments and an opportunity to socialise.
