Anzac Day marked across Queenstown Lakes
They shall not grow old, as those who are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Lest we Forget.
For the Fallen
Laurence Binyon
1914
Around 1000 people paraded through Arrowtown autumn sunshine this morning for the Anzac Day commemorations.
Queenstown and Southern Lakes Highland Pipe Band led the way from Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall up to the Cenotaph on top of Durham Street, shortly after 10am.
They were followed by current and former New Zealand and Australian servicemen and women, their families, RSA members, dignitaries, firefighters, schoolchildren and locals.
It's now 109 years since New Zealand and Australian soldiers landed at Gallipoli in Türkiye on 25 April, 1915, and today Anzac Day services have been held across the country to remember the service and sacrifice of all personnel who've served, and that of their families.
More than 30,000 New Zealand military personnel have been killed in wars and conflicts since 1915.
While people who turned out to dawn services had to endured wet and windy weather, including at Queenstown War Memorial on Marine Parade and Wānaka, by mid-morning the weather had cleared, allowing for a beautiful ceremony in Arrowtown, led by Arrowtown RSA President Rosemary Chalmers and Whakatipu Parish vicar Dr Michael Godfrey.
Queenstown's MP Joseph Mooney gave a speech which captured the sense of gratitude New Zealanders feel towards those who have served.
Mooney paid tribute to those who had paid "the ultimate sacrifice so that we can have the freedom, democracy and justice we so value in New Zealand", as well as those who continue to serve.
One of Mooney's own great uncles, Joseph Cornwall, died at Gallipoli, while his own grandfather had suffered terrible injuries in war, later convalescing in Arrowtown.
"We can understand and respect that this is something which flows through all our families and our communities, all around this country.
"I see the name there [on the Cenotaph] of Lt Col R.E Romans, who was the son of an Arrowtown butcher, and one of a number who left this peaceful valley and went to serve overseas to uphold those values that we hold so dear, and paid the ultimate sacrifice.
"Obviously, in a time of great geopolitical challenges that we are seeing around the world, we must strive harder than ever to maintain the peace that we so value, so that our sons and daughters do not have to make those same sacrifices that those before us have made."
Queenstown-based Todd Stephenson MP, who also attended Arrowtown service, spoke at Queenstown's dawn service, telling the audience that whenever MPs enter the debating chamber in Parliament, they see the names of the battlefields around the world where New Zealanders have fought and died to uphold democracy.
The Arrowtown service also included a rendition of The Last Post, prayers, speeches by school children and the national anthems of New Zealand and Australia, before the laying of wreaths and poppies on the Cenotaph.
Elsewhere, bagpiper Graeme Glass performed on Arthurs Point Edith Cavell Bridge, named after the British nurse who was executed during the First World War for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.
