It was a fine warm autumn morning for the ANZAC Day service at the Otago Peninsula Museum at Portobello. The significance of ANZAC Day was given even more meaning with the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, and a good crowd of local people and visitors attended. The service had a strong local flavour with Mrs Wilma Beck reading excerpts from her Great Uncle’s Gallipoli diary and pupils from Portobello School reading poems they had written to mark the day. In a final fitting tribute a totara was planted in the grounds as a living memorial to the ANZAC spirit. Once again many thanks to the hard-working volunteers from Portobello Community Incorporated and the Otago Peninsula Museum for their organisation and hard-work. (Click on pictures to view in full size).

ANZAC Day is not the glorification of war, but a reminder that lasting peace is a fragile gift, that as the guardians of ANZAC Day we must cherish and protect for the future. Today we live in uncertain times and we face an uncertain future driven by global events that threaten the security and peace that we have known and enjoyed for over 100 years. If we are to conquer that uncertainty we must draw strength from our ANZAC traditions and learn from their courage and commitment to a lasting legacy of peace. Because in 100 years of New Zealand service our servicemen and women have shown the world that the real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.

Lest we forget.

(Click on pictures to view in full size).