Anzac day gazetted

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, April 25th, 2010 - 9 comments
Categories: defence, heritage, military, newspapers - Tags:

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While digging out the poppy that graces our banner this weekend, I also dug out this bit of history from nzhistory.net.nz.

Anzac Day notice, New Zealand Gazette, 1, 1916, p. 977

Observances respecting Anzac Day.

Prime Minister’s Office,
Wellington, 5th April, 1916.

I Hereby notify, for public information, that the Government have decided to observe a half-holiday, commencing at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the 25th April, in commemoration of ‘Anzac Day,’ and I shall be glad if the Mayors of all cities and boroughs, the Chairmen of County Councils and Town Boards, as well as other local bodies, as far as their districts are concerned, will similarly observe the day in remembrance of the notable deeds performed by the Australians and our brave New Zealand soldiers on that memorable and historical occasion.

2. It is specially fitting that on this occasion special services of public worship be held by all religious denominations, and I therefore appeal to all ministers of religion and all congregations to hold such services on behalf of the people of the Dominion at such hours during the forenoon or afternoon as are found convenient.

3. The New Zealand Ensign will be displayed on all public buildings in the Dominion from sunrise to sunset.

4. It is requested that the managers and representatives of shipping companies should direct that all ships in the various harbours display their flags during that day.

5. The Government is of opinion that the day should not be marked by the holding of sports or similar forms of entertainment. It is considered, however, that the occasion is particularly one upon which opportunity should be taken for all recruiting bodies and others to arrange patriotic meetings for the evening, not only to commemorate the anniversary, but also with a view to assisting the recruiting campaign, the question of how this may best be done being left entirely to the discretion of those immediately concerned.

W. F. MASSEY.
Prime Minister

Point 5 particularly intrigued me.

9 comments on “Anzac day gazetted ”

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  1. Anne 1
    25 April 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Point no 5 intrigued me too.
    ‘Every post a winning post’ as they say.

    We’ve got smile and wave making the most of the film and photo shoots at Gallipoli still to come.
    Nothing has changed.

  2. Anne 2
    25 April 2010 at 5:07 pm

    May I withdraw my second comment. I was not aware of the seriousness of the helicopter crash or the decision by John Key to return to NZ immediately.

  3. prism 3
    25 April 2010 at 8:47 pm

    I think these poems that refer to war in a booklet on the Danish resistance movement belong here. (I put them first on Open Mike.)

    You passing through this hall
    Stop here and think a moment
    Of those who in their sacrifice
    Gave us the reward

    And go again your own way
    But remember yours is the choice
    To waste their blood
    Or honour it in the flame of life.
    Otto Gelsted

    and to a lost resistance comrade

    Quietly he slips away
    Nothing can hurt him now
    His group is not betrayed
    He is beyond beating
    The stormy hour of harvest passes
    Dwindling as even fighting must
    His friends are here tonight
    His dreams are ours for ever
    Halfdan Rasmussen

  4. ghostwhowalksnz 4
    26 April 2010 at 7:31 am

    Even stranger is people like Farrar listing the war dead from various campaigns, and somehow connecting the Boer War or Vietnam and Malayan campaigns as ‘defending our freedom’
    The Boer war defending our freedom??. 200,000 dead Boers wouldnt think so.

  5. gingercrush 5
    26 April 2010 at 8:49 am

    Remembering those who died in service
    April 25th, 2010 at 11:51 am by David Farrar

    I don’t think today’s generation can ever truly grasp the sacrifices made by previous generations. Today a single solider getting wounded in combat is a front page story.

    How would we have coped with wars when the dead numbered not in single figures but in the tens of thousands. When not only did everyone lose someone they knew everyone lost multiple friends and family.

    So today I think of the following New Zealanders:

    * The 6,500 who served and 229 who died in the Second Boer War
    * The 103,000 who served (over 10% of our population) and 16,697 who died in WWI the highest casualty rate of any country
    * The 204,000 who served in WWII, and 11,625 killed the highest casualty rate in the commonwealth
    * The 1,300 who served in the Malayan conflict, and the 15 who died
    * Those who served in the Indonesia-Malaysia conflict
    * The 5,094 who served in Korea, and 33 who died
    * The 3,890 who served in Vietnam, and 37 who died
    * All others who have served

    It is hard to comprehend having 42% of service age males, fighting overseas in a war, but that is what happened in WWI.

    Where does he say, “Defending our Freedom”? Or are you just pissed off he mentioned that we should remember soliders who went to Vietnam etc? Regardless of how you or I or anyone else here feels about those wars and whether we should have sent soldiers there or not. That doesn’t matter. Because governments at the time made the decision for New Zealand soliders to go and in doing their duty some of those soldiers were killed. Should we not remember those who went to war simply because those wars may have been mistakes? I don’t think so.

    That is just pissing on the people that made sacrifices for this country.

    • lprent 5.1
      26 April 2010 at 9:12 am

      I’m one of those who “served”, in my case in the territorials for a number of years. Many of my extended family served overseas or locally in most of those wars. Some still do now.

      The biggest problem for is those who don’t bother to think but follow blindly. One of the reasons that I put this post up was to contrast the type of unthinking patriotism implied in point 5 with where we are now.

      One of the key reasons for ANZAC day is to remember the connection between politics and service. It is up to us civilians to make sure that we don’t have governments using our troops for stupid reasons. That means there has to be discussion. I can’t think of a more appropriate day than ANZAC day.

  6. prism 6
    26 April 2010 at 8:59 am

    On No.5 – NZ being well into WW1 in 1916 when this Anzac notice was gazetted, I suppose the opportunity to tout for more forces personnel could not be missed.

  7. ghostwhowalksnz 7
    26 April 2010 at 5:19 pm

    Right Anne lets just gloss over the ‘Tory Wars’ , since that would piss on those who made sacrifices.

    I would have though wasting those lives in the first place, so that the SAS training the Aghan Police is a worthwhile use of kiwi lives is not pissing away the lives of those sent there
    Today in Afghanistan is much like the colonial war that was South Africa, so nothing has been learnt, other than to give a special Veterans day on the 25th April ( Turkey was an Imperialist ambition of Churchill as well, who had British troops fighting greeks in Athens even before WW2 was over)

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