New Zealanders Encouraged To Gather As Virtual Communities For Anzac Day

For the first time since Anzac services began in 1916, New Zealanders won’t be gathering at public services and war memorials nationwide on Saturday to mark this significant day of remembrance.

Anzac Services around the country – including those at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and the Atatürk Memorial in Wellington – have been cancelled as part of New Zealand’s campaign against the spread of COVID-19.

“Instead, this year we will be gathering as virtual communities on Anzac Day,” says Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage Chief Executive Bernadette Cavanagh.

“Despite the restrictions in place, we know New Zealanders will still want to take the time to remember and acknowledge all those who have served or continue to serve our country in times of conflict, peacekeeping and disaster relief.

“I am in awe of the powerful and creative initiatives that organisations have come up with to allow New Zealanders to connect with the past, and each other, from the safety of their bubbles this Anzac Day.

“I encourage everyone to get involved,” Bernadette Cavanagh said.

Opportunities for people to participate in Anzac Day from within their bubbles:

• Join the New Zealand Defence Force and RSA's #StandAtDawn campaign, RNZ National will broadcast a dawn service at 6am in support of this campaign.
• Make a poppy or a wreath to add to your window or letterbox.
• Lay a virtual poppy at Auckland Museum’s Online Cenotaph for a loved one or for one of more than 235,000 New Zealand service men and women represented there.
• Watch Anzac Day 2020 – Stories of Remembrance at 11am on TVNZ 1 or TVNZ On Demand.
• Watch two new NZ On Air-funded documentaries exploring the military history shared between New Zealand and the Pacific: Paradise Soldiers (TVNZ 1 8.55am) and Coastwatchers – Operation Pacific (TVNZ 1 10.10am) also at TVNZ On Demand.
• Watch a live broadcast of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Anzac Salute on Facebook. It features two works commissioned to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landings in 2015 - Andrew Simmon’s Dear Horizon and Neil Ieremia’s Passchendaele.
• Bake some Anzac cookies with the kids or listen to David Hill’s The Red Poppy or Feana Tu’akoi’s Lest we Forget on RNZ Storytime.
• Learn more about New Zealand’s experiences of war and its far-reaching impacts on those who served, families, communities and the nation at NZHistory.govt.nz.

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