ANZAC day

---

ANZAC Day - 25 April - is one of New Zealand's most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War (in Gallipoli). The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The day is a national holiday marked with commemorations throughout New Zealand and Reefton is no exception. There are in fact two ceremonies in town. One at the crack of dawn and another community ceremony at 10:00 in the morning. We attended the latter. There was a short parade which lasted from 10:00 to 10:03 (Adrianne and Josh marched in the parade - Avery was too cool to join in). The parade was headed by the Westport RSA pipe band in full regalia. The RSA is the equivalent to the Royal Canadian Legion organization in Canada.

The ceremony involved the traditional wreath laying, a short speech and prayer and a reading of all the names of those who had fallen in the world wars from the Inangahua area. It was a terrific ceremony with a good turn out, considering the size of the town. Afterward sausages and coffee with rum was served in the RSA and Workingmen's Club. We passed on the spiked coffee picking up a flat white at the Tearooms before heading home.

---

Photos

ANZAC Day
The Reefton ANZAC Day Parade in its entirety (it lasted about 3 minutes). In Reefton it is quality not quantity that counts.