Spectacular parade to mark eve of Anzac Day

A spectacular parade commemorating the centenary of the Gallipoli landings will weave its way through Wellington on Friday 24 April – the day before Anzac Day.

One of the highlights of the week-long programme of Anzac anniversary events announced by the Government today, the parade will include military personnel, vintage war machinery and a special fly-over of vintage World War I aircraft.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says: “The centenary of Gallipoli is hugely important for New Zealand, and the parade will really set the stage for the commemorative events and put a global spotlight on Wellington.”

The lunchtime parade, organised by Wellington City Council, will start at Parliament and finish at the new Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. Military personnel, and 100 extras in vintage uniforms, will join veterans and their descendants. Marching bands and military and school pipe bands will join the procession alongside 16 vintage World War I vehicles, including a horse-drawn gun carriage from Sir Peter Jackson’s collection. An original AFS ambulance – one of two in existence –will also be part of the parade.

The parade will travel along Lambton Quay, Willis Street and Wakefield Street, before heading up Taranaki Street where two howitzer guns and two British World War I tanks will be stationed. At Pukeahu National War Memorial Park the parade will be greeted by Mayor Wade-Brown and other dignitaries.

During the parade, vintage aircraft from the Great War will fly overhead, weather permitting.

The parade is one event in a busy week of commemorations jointly planned by a number of agencies including the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, New Zealand Defence Force and Department of Internal Affairs.

Among those, highlighted events include services on Anzac Day and WWI Remembered: A Light and Sound Show, which will take place throughout the week 18 to 25 April, 7–10pm, at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.

WWI Remembered: A Light and Sound Show features imagery from our shared military history projected onto the facades of the former Dominion Museum and the Carillon.

Wellington City Council has set aside $2 million in funding to commemorate World War I over the next few years, $800,000 of which came from lottery grants.

Anzac Week commemorative programme

Wednesday 25 March

Dawn, Blessing of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

Saturday 18 April

11am, Opening of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

The Great War exhibition opens to the public at the Dominion Museum

Gallipoli – The Scale of our War opens at Te Papa

7pm-10pm, WWI Remembered: A Light and Sound Show on the facades of the Dominion Museum and the Carillon

Fields of Remembrance – 866 white crosses will commemorate the Wellingtonians who lost their lives in 1915 - Salamanca Lawn, Wellington Botanic Garden.

Monday 20 April

10am, Dedication of Australian Memorial at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

Friday 24 April

12.30pm–2pm, Anzac Parade

6pm–8pm, Anzac Eve Vigil Service, Wellington Cathedral

Anzac Day - Saturday 25 April

5.30am, Dawn Service, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

9am, Wellington Citizens wreath-laying service, Cenotaph

11am, National Anzac Day Service, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

1pm, AFL match, Westpac Stadium

2pm, Memorial service, Ataturk Memorial, Tarakena Bay

2.30pm, Big-screen live broadcast of Dawn Service in Gallipoli at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

6pm, Beating the Retreat, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

ends

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