Anzac Day 2010

Dawn Ceremony on Board the HMNZS Canterbury

This year the New Zealand Consulate-General had the honour of hosting last Sunday’s Anzac Day dawn ceremony with the HMNZS Canterbury berthed alongside in Noumea. The 6am ceremony on board the flight deck was a moving and solemn commemoration of Anzac Day, with participation from over 200 military personnel from the Australian Army and Navy, the New Zealand Navy, Army and Air Force and the French Armed Forces. The ceremony was presided over by the ship’s chaplain Padre Peter Olds and the FANC’s priest Padre Bertrand Lorentz. Representatives from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia laid wreaths in honour of all those who served in military operations past and present and the New Zealand Navy performed their haka “Te Tuma Herenga Waka” in a moving and powerful acknowledgement of those who sacrificed their lives for justice and peace.

For more information about Anzac Day and its significance see www.anzac.govt.nz .