Anzac Day at Auckland Museum

As Auckland’s War Memorial Museum, Anzac Day is our most important day of the year. In this episode, find out how we get ready to welcome thousands and thousands of visitors for the Dawn Service, and what it means to us to continue this time-honoured tradition.

Episode Transcript

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Anzac Day at Auckland Museum

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Gabriel Tongaawhikau 00:02This podcast is brought to you by Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Victoria Passau 00:29On the morning of the 25th of April 1915, 16,000 members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli. By that evening, 2000 of them had been killed or wounded. 110 years later, the Gallipoli campaign remains one of the most defining moments in Aotearoa New Zealand's history –
a name now synonymous with the sorrow, hardship and sacrifice experienced by Anzac forces, thousands of kilometres away from home. Anzac Day may have begun as a remembrance of those who fought at Gallipoli, but it now stands as a day to acknowledge all New Zealanders who've served across every conflict in every capacity, it's not only a time to honour those who gave their lives, but also those who returned home, often carrying the unseen weight of service. At Auckland War Memorial Museum, we are committed to telling the full story, recognising not only the First World War, but all theatres of war and peacekeeping operations New Zealand has been involved in, past and present, from the South African war to the Western Front and more recent deployments in Bosnia, Afghanistan and East Timor. Our aspiration is to ensure that all service, all sacrifice, and the stories of the whānau who stood beside them in hope, in loss and in love are woven into our remembrance. Auckland War Memorial Museum opened in November 1929, built in part with funds raised by Aucklanders who wanted a place to honour loved ones who didn't return from the Great War, and to acknowledge the physical and emotional scars of those who did. Nearly a century on, we continue to uphold that commitment. Kia ora, I'm Victoria Passau, your host for this episode of The Amp, the podcast from Auckland Museum that amplifies the incredible stories from our collections, our mahi and our place in the Pacific. I'm responsible for managing Online Cenotaph, New Zealand's digital memorial. It honours those who served in our military forces during times of active conflict, from the 19th century to today. Accessible to all, Online Cenotaph brings together service records, photographs, personal stories and tributes, offering a meaningful way to commemorate and connect with New Zealand service personnel. Anzac Day is one of the most significant days of the year for the museum. So, in this episode, we're heading behind the scenes to find out what goes into preparing for such an important day and reflect on what it means to be Auckland's War Memorial Museum. On Anzac Day, the public begin arriving as early as 4am. The sky is still dark. The city hushed as they approach, the first thing they see is the museum glowing in poppy red, a beacon of remembrance on Pukekawa Auckland Domain, standing sentinel over the city. It's a powerful sight, quiet, solemn and deeply moving. Preparing for this moment takes months of planning and care. Our Property Services team work year-round to keep the museum in pristine condition as dignified and striking today as it was when it opened in 1929.
Carrie Hope 04:56Kia ora koutou, my name is Carrie Hope, and I'm the Facilities and Planning Team Leader at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Property Services put a lot of effort into maintaining the Museum throughout the year, but our largest day of the year is Anzac. We do a lot of maintenance building up, but what really starts kicking in from the first of April is cleaning. We want the Museum to look as beautiful as possible for the thousands of visitors that come and see us on that day. We want the Grand Foyer to be shining. We often make a joke within property that the Grand Foyer marble floor must have a military level shine. We want there to be a mirror reflection.
Victoria Passau 05:39It's a year-round responsibility, taking care of our largest taonga, the Museum itself. Though the building is nearing its 100th birthday, thanks to the Property Services team, you'd never know it.
Carrie Hope 05:46So, my team, they’re considered kind of the guardians of the building itself. And what we do is, first, we, of course, maintain compliance. We get a building ‘Warrant of Fitness’, and we make sure everything's safe and running as smoothly as possible. We also do a lot of proactive maintenance work. So, you'll see that we do heritage maintenance. It's quite special with the heritage maintenance, because you can't make any drastic changes. You can't exactly knock down a 100-year-old wall. We want to make sure we maintain it as well as possible. One, it has beautiful memories and history. But two, we want generations of Aucklanders in the wider communities to be able to come here and enjoy the space and feel safe and comfortable. I think that's that's one feeling you kind of get when you're driving up through the domain and seeing the Museum on the hill, is it looks sturdy, it looks like it can stand the test of time. And that's what me and my coworkers do on a day to day. We make sure it can stand the test of time so that beautiful, pale limestone is constantly shining on the top of the Domain hill.
Victoria Passau
This year, those visiting on Anzac Day may notice that things are looking a little different.
Carrie Hope
So, I'm sure some people have noticed is scaffolding slowly cropping up around from the eastern side to our flag roof. So, this is actually proactive heritage work to protect our laylight. As you enter the Grand Foyer, you'd usually look up and see this gorgeous, massive laylight that's a memorial laylight in our Hall of Memories for World War One. This has a little kind of glass roof on top of it that protects it from the weather. Now, this was all installed back in 1929 and as I'm sure you know, things slowly get a little bit weaker, not as weather type. So, what we've done is we've built the scaffold. We're taking off that weatherproof roof and make it a new based off how it was originally designed. So, we're keeping all the history. It's going to look very similar afterwards, but with brand new cedar, brand new glass and perfectly weathertight, we really want to do this as carefully as possible. So that's why we've chosen this timing. Wasn't intentional to have a bunch of scaffold decorating the museum for Anzac, but it's the best time seasonal-wise, so we can make sure there's no heavy weather systems coming through that could potentially put that ley light at risk. So that's why we've chosen this time, and that's why we're going ahead with it, so we can make sure that this gorgeous memorial laylight, the largest in New Zealand, can stay there for future generations to come. And so when they come in on Anzac and look up, they kind of get a sense of wonder and can really, really think about things. So, Anzac has always really been a part of my life. I grew up in the Hawke's Bay Napier, and we actually have a memorial clock tower there, so Anzac was kind of always ingrained in me from an early age. Get up and do the dawn service with our school groups, and it always felt really important and special. But the scale of it really didn't hit me until I did my first Anzac at the Museum, we went up to the flag roof at 5:30am having woken up at 2am that day, walking up with the cadets and looking over at the Cenotaph and down at the dawn service. In pitch black darkness, you hear little noises of people getting ready, you'd see the crowd slowly walking, and then just as the sun starts to rise, would raise the flags, and then you'd have your moment of silence, and then these amazing, large, noisy airplanes would come really close down. Almost feels like they're gonna hit you on the flag roof, but they don't. It was really special moment, kind of looking over at all the people that woken up so early to really commemorate and have a moment of mindfulness, quiet contemplation, but all the people that had to, or chose to go out to not just defend the nation, but I guess, also make sure that those they loved would be okay. It was a really special moment, and it's that's what we should continue going forward, and that's why, you know, myself that my team really like to put as much effort as possible so when people do come, they don't have to be distracted by, ‘oh, what's that damage on that wall’ or anything like that. We want to make sure when you are here, you are taking that time to think through those things and go to the Hall of memories and experience those marble tiles with those names, and think about it and appreciate it. So it's something that's really close to my heart, and I'll continue doing Anzac each year, because it's a really beautiful moment.
Victoria Passau 11:20Our war memorial role is permanently enshrined on the Museum’s building itself, carved in stone, etched in glass and embedded in its very foundations, inside and out, the architecture tells the stories of Aotearoa’s engagement in both World Wars, but our responsibility as a war memorial extends well beyond the building. It lives on through our collections, our research and our commitment to keeping the histories that surround New Zealand's role in peace and conflict at the forefront of our collective consciousness.
Gail Romano 11:57I'm Gail Romano. I'm Curator War History here at Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
Victoria Passau 12:03Gail works with medals, textiles and other memorabilia that relate to our war experiences year-round. She works to surface stories that may not have been recorded in formal histories, helping preserve the memory of our service personnel for future generations. She works closely with me and the Online Cenotaph team, helping to ensure that these lives and legacies are remembered, recorded, honoured and accessible to the public. The Museum’s role as a war memorial is active and ongoing, not just something carved in stone, but lived every day through our mahi. Throughout the year, we host formal protocol events and ceremonies welcoming visitors from international defence forces, dignitaries and veterans. These include wreath laying and other commemorative services that form part of our calendar, like Armistice Day. Our commemorative role is more than symbolic. It's a formal responsibility recognised in the Auckland War Memorial Museum act 1996 which enshrines our duty to honour and remember all those who have served the music well in advance of Anzac Day, the preparations begin.
Gail Romano 13:34So, every year, throughout the year, we receive various medal offers, which I work through during the year, and we acquire, and beginning in January, usually, we start the process of preparing that year's donations to go into our Medals gallery tour, which is in Pou Maumahara on the second floor. They go into those secure draws in Pou Maumahara in time for Anzac Day, so that visitors can see the newly-donated collections. And following Anzac Day, usually the weekend after, we have a donors’ afternoon tea for those for the years’ worth of donated medals, and that's our way of of honouring the recipients of the medals through their families, but also the families who have entrusted us with caring for that particular memorabilia. For me, it's always about empathy and compassion. Really, it's actually reflecting on how experiences like that have a long shadow, and you know, it reaches into all, all corners of of our social fabric, and many, many people are affected by it. So those memories psychologically, emotionally and even physically in a number of cases, continue from one generation to another. Memory is a very strong and powerful thing, and we all know that memory can change a little bit, but those core feelings, those core emotions, remain. And of course, all of those impacts, even if they affect individual, families or individuals, they also spill over into our social environment, and Anzac Day is the day when we set aside some time to actually think about those people and the impact that it has had and is ongoing.
Victoria Passau 15:44With the building ready the stories within ready to be told. The museum is set to welcome the thousands and thousands of people who will come to commemorate with us. At the heart of Anzac Day is the dawn service, a moment of stillness, reflection and shared remembrance. Museum staff begin arriving as early as 2am it's a carefully coordinated effort to ensure everything is in place, from technical setups to ceremonial protocols. It takes a lot of teamwork and more than a little coffee…but there's a strong sense of purpose that guides us. Many hands working together make it all possible, and that spirit of kotahitanga is felt across every part of the morning.
Matthew Crumpton 16:33I'm Matthew Crumpton. I'm the Head of Visitor Services here at Tāmaki Paenga Hira, and I also have the title of Protocol Officer
Victoria Passau
Matthew and the Visitor Services team work with Auckland Council, the Auckland Returned and Services Association, and media, to make sure the ceremony runs with military precision, from wreath laying to the minute of silence. There are longstanding protocols that must be followed each year.
Matthew Crumpton
Being on the Cenotaph that is consecrated ground, and it's very important that the protocols around that are respected, and the RSA play a key role in coordinating, but also making sure that the the solemnity of the occasion is is adhered to and and the right processes and steps taken in the commemoration are acknowledged.
Victoria Passau 17:26Welcoming 10,000 visitors to the museum is no small feat, especially when you consider that on an average day, we welcome two or 3000. Alongside the precise coordination of the dawn service itself, our front of house team, particularly the visitor hosts, play a crucial role. Whether it's a regular Tuesday or the busiest day of the year, our visitor hosts uphold the mana of the museum by caring for every person who steps into our whare taonga.

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Matthew Crumpton 17:57I remember my first one here at the Auckland Museum. I'd never been to the dawn ceremony before, and the first one I went to I was on the Museum side. So we don't actually get to go out onto the Cenotaph to see the ceremony, so we're behind the scenes making sure everything is ready and prepared from the Museum’s perspective. And I recall standing where the where the rotating door is in the grand foyer, and hearing what's going on and waiting and ready for the 10,000 or so visitors to walk through our door. And I was looking at over the Cenotaph and at the Waitemata and all of a sudden, this huge Air Force bomber was approaching the museum directly in front of me, coming towards here, and had a flyover. And the power and the emotion that you not only felt, I felt, but you could see around everybody else, too…was just incredible. Oh, it was amazing. I was standing there, it just literally was flying towards us. There's a little bit of trepidation, because I thought, think that might be coming straight towards us, because it was flying quite low. And I just took a moment. I was like, wow, this is some serious stuff.
Victoria Passau 19:25Veterans begin assembling from 4am gathering in the early morning quiet. Just before 6am they march onto the Court of Honour in front of the Museum. As the sun begins to rise, the service opens with a karakia led by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, grounding the ceremony in Te Ao Māori and Pukekawa, the whenua on which we stand. At exactly 6am, the time of the initial landings at Gallipoli, the dawn service begins. The rising sun symbolises more than just the start of a new day, it speaks to the journey from darkness into light, from loss into remembrance. A series of prayers, dedications and musical performances follow each chosen with care. Then comes the wreath laying, a moment of solemn reflection and unity.
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Victoria Passau 20:53With that, the ceremonial protocols have concluded, but the museum's day is far from over. Soon, thousands will walk through our doors to continue their own act of remembrance. Entrance is free on Anzac Day, and one of the things we're especially proud to offer is our volunteer-led tours. Volunteers are an essential part of the Museum’s whānau. They give their time experience and expertise in all sorts of ways, from helping identify specimens to welcoming visitors as they start their journey through the galleries. We're open 364 days a year, every day except Christmas, and our volunteer guides are here for all of them. Rain or shine, weekday or weekend, they turn up to deliver outstanding tours of our galleries.
Ros Currie 21:47My name is Ros, Ros Currie, and I'm the Manager of Volunteer Services, so that means I look after all the hundreds of people that volunteer here at the Museum, and a particular part of my role is working with the guides and training all the guides to do our guided tours here on Anzac Day. Our volunteers guide visitors through the War Memorial galleries, sharing stories of service and offering thoughtful reflections on the lives of those who served. Those of us who work front of the house, treat Anzac Day as probably the most important day in the whole Museum's year. It's the busiest day, and it's it's the glory day that you polish everything up and you have everything ready. We're planning, we're training. I'm going to be running a guide training workshop for the guides who are going to be taking World War One tours. And so we've had to get all our notes updated because things have changed in the galleries, and we're training up some new guides who are going to be doing war tours for the first time, because on Anzac Day, people just walk in and walk up, and we run the tours on the half hour all day, from 7:30 in the morning till the last ones run at 3:30 and last year, we took 700 people on those tours. And it's just grown and grown and grown over the years as people get to know more about it, and so the volunteer guides will be working hard and reading their notes and walking the galleries and getting their stories together, and we're sorting the logistics and making rosters and timetables and contacting people. It's a very busy time of year. I've been doing Anzac days here for 16 years, and it's been interesting watching how things have changed over that 16 years, we've changed our tours. We've made them more about people and individuals and values and less about perhaps technology or historical timeline. We've had more and more new-New Zealanders and new Aucklanders coming to find out what is this Anzac Day all about, and that's been a great joy. We've found that the number of people coming in and the number of people particularly wanting to do tours and find out more information, has grown immensely. And it's amazing because it's almost as though it's become more relevant, and that's fascinating, and it's why museums are here. They're here so that people can keep that contact with the past and make sense of it. So I love that. I think that's marvellous.
Victoria Passau 25:02Whether it's your first time commemorating Anzac Day or a tradition you've held your whole life, there's a way for everyone in your whānau to learn how war has shaped our history.
Jess Smith 25:25Kia ora koutou, ko Jess Smith toku ingoa, I am the manager of the Public Programmes team here at Tāmaki Paenga Hira. On Anzac Day, we really try to focus on providing visitors with that opportunity to connect and reflect. So, all of our activities are sort of centred around that idea of people coming together to reflect together and also create new connections. So, we do that in a range of ways, and one of the key things is performance. And we have, we have beautiful choral performances on Anzac Day, because music, it's just one of those art forms that really connects people in a way that can pull you outside of yourself and what's maybe happening for you. And yeah, you can create really wonderful ways to kind of engage with people through music. So this year, we've got the Rewaken Polycation Choir, who are performing here for the first time on Anzac Day, they're going to perform a bracket of waiata, Pacific music and commemorative hymns, and they were the silver medallists in last year's big sing competition, and also took out the crowd favourite award. So, we're really looking forward to having them here. I think they'll be amazing and worth coming to see and listen to. We have craft activities which are designed to get people making and creating together. So, we have our pinwheel poppies, which people can make together and then take away. We have the Peace Tree, which is designed for people to share their own messages for peace, to reflect on conflicts that are happening in the world, and to share their hopes and dreams for peace.
Victoria Passau 27:09A cornerstone of our Anzac Day activities is the annual ‘Lest we forget’ poetry competition.
[Montage from last year’s poetry competition readings]
Now, in its 19th year, the competition has long been supported by Michelle Mann, who sadly passed away last year, who husband Eddie now continues that support in her memory, a tribute to both her passion and the enduring power of remembrance through poetry.
Jess Smith 28:05Sometimes we receive from 75 to, like, 350 entries. So, it's really, really popular. And we have people from as young as six seven through to people in their seven to easy entering, which is lovely. And we have, like, the three categories, so we pick finalists from each age group, and the nine finalists that get selected can come into the Museum on Anzac Day and get to read their poem in the Hall of Memories, which is also a really lovely way for people to just, I guess, express their own kind of experiences, or what they know from their family in terms of war connections, but also how they might be feeling right now about different things going on in the world. And yeah, we get beautiful range of all sorts of people coming through for that who aren't necessarily poets, but just really want to kind of give that a go and share their poetry on the day. It's a special privilege to work here at the Museum on Anzac Day, many people will have come as visitors, but our role is really to manaaki everyone on that day and ensure that, you know, the doors are wide open and that there's all sorts of touch points and wonderful opportunities for people to connect and reflect together. And so that makes it quite a big deal, really, for everyone in the team working on Anzac Day, it's a long day, so there's a lot of hard work. We have to wake up super early to get everything ready before the dawn service, but it's also like a day of camaraderie. And, you know, it's enjoyable because we're all kind of working together, and beautiful sentiment behind it.
Victoria Passau 29:49It's very much a collective effort.
Bobby Newson 29:55How I introduce myself is normally done in my Māori. I. Kotarakeha te manga ko Hori mapu Hi Kota raro wa Tewi, tau Maui te hapu ko Kamera.
Speaker 1 30:09That's Bobby Newson. He's the Museum's Tumuhere Iwi Relationships Manager. He's also a Malayan and Vietnam War veteran. I came to the Museum because I am a veteran. And then there's a place where I think it is recognised as a veteran, and it's some place that I feel at home with, and especially in memory of those ones that are my uncles and all the people that gave their lives and when we honour them in places like this at the museum. To prepare myself, I want to go back first to when I was a young child growing up at Mitimiti, my uncle, who served in the two eight Māori Battalion. His photo, he never came back. He died over in Crete, and there was a photo of him with his medals, and that always hung in our lounge. And every Anzac, we'd take that down to the marae, and we'd have a service in memory of those that didn't come back. And so all my childhood days, I wanted to be like my uncle, because I used to look at him as my hero, and especially with all those medals and everything. And so of course, I grew up in an area of comics and war movies and all that sort of thing, but we had no power, so there were just comics and pictures and things like that. So yeah, and later in life, I joined the Army, and I have got medals serving in Malayan Vietnam, but at a cost. And you know, my own life is I'm still struggling with it now, but I think I've reached my goal of being like my uncle. I celebrate that, and it's a commemoration of the life of my uncle and those that served in the First and Second World War, and all those that served in the theatres of war after World War One and World War Two, including my era in Vietnam, I prepare myself for Anzac Day by getting out photos of I mean, I've just gone through that the other night with my family at home, of people that I serve with and that are no longer with us. And so it's building up towards Anzac Day.
Victoria Passau 32:54Each evening the Museum closes with the last post echoing through the galleries. In recent years, we've added new layers to this daily act of commemoration, with Bobby also recording an opening and closing karakia along with the ode of remembrance, adding depth, wairua and mana to the moment.
Bobby Newson 33:20I enjoy working here. I feel part of it, and I been involved in the Anzac Day up here for many years. I'm enjoying today, because there seems a bit more a family type atmosphere where families are coming in. I admire them, because at 5:30 in the morning, I find it hard to get up there. You ask me to come to work at 5:30 in the morning, but to see young people getting up with their children and bringing them here at five o'clock, 5:30 in the morning for a service at six o'clock. And then that's year after year after. And then it just increases. While Anzac Day has taken different shapes over the years, one thing remains constant, people come to remember it's humbling to hold space for that and to support service personnel and their whanau in whatever way they choose to mark the day. It is a special day for me and for my family, and for lots and lots of families, I don't think there is a family in New Zealand that hasn't been touched by war. So, we all commemorate it. I don't celebrate war. I commemorate it. And look at the inscriptions written on this building, and look at the inscriptions written in the halls of honour, in memory of them, I think Anzac is one of those few days that we want to stop and just remember them.
Victoria Passau 34:56Anzac Day may come to a close, but the work of remembrance continues every day. For those unable to come to the Museum in person, or who are wanting to continue their commemorations at home, we offer a place where remembrance never ends. Online Cenotaph was established in 1996 as a simple Roll of Honour. Today, it holds over 267,000 records of our service personnel from more than 40 conflicts with particular strength in records from the South African wars through to Vietnam. Since its redevelopment in 2015 the public has contributed nearly 200,000 pieces of new information, uploading images, sharing memories and laying more than 1 million digital poppies in honour of those who served. This Anzac Day, rather than focusing on a single story, we're inviting you to share your own. Use Online Cenotaph to explore your connections, leave a note or lay a poppy. On Anzac Day, my team is based in the Pou Maumahara Memorial Discovery Centre from 7am to 5pm where we can help you with your research and finding whānau records or simply guiding you through the stories held in the collection. Remembrance is something we build together, one story, one connection, one poppy at a time. We'll close this episode with the ode of remembrance, read in te reo Māori by Bobby Newson, a moment to reflect, remember and honour.
Bobby Newson 36:38E kore rātou e kaumātuatia Pēnei i a tātou kua mahue nei E kore hoki rātou e ngoikore Ahakoa pehea i ngā āhuatanga o te wā I te hekenga atu o te rā Tae noa ki te aranga mai i te ata Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou. Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou.
Victoria Passau 37:06They shall not grow old, as we that 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.
That was Anzac Day at the Museum, written by Steph Strock, Laura Skerritt and me, Victoria Passau. Sound Design by Marc Chesterman and Laura Skerritt. The executive producer was Teresa Cowie from connect content. Thanks to our guests, Carrie Hope, Gail Romano, Matthew Crumpton, Ros Currie, Jess Smith and Bobby Newson. A special thanks to Whakaata Māori and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei for their kind permission to use audio from last year's ceremony. For more information about visiting us on Anzac Day and to learn more about our war memorial function, see our website and show notes for this episode.