Anzac Day 2023: Services and events in Christchurch

Anzac Day was commemorated on Tuesday 25 April. All our libraries were closed on this public holiday (Tūranga's Foundation Café was open 7am to 2pm)
Read our page on Anzac Day and Gallipoli to find out more about the history of this commemoration.

Voices of Gallipoli - Friday 21 April 2pm-3pm, Tūranga

On Friday 21 April at 2pm in Tautoru / TSB Space at Tūranga we hosted a Voices of Gallipoli event. Using a concept created by playwright Arthur Meek, where local actors and current soldiers performed soldiers' accounts of the campaign from Maurice Shadbolt's Voices of Gallipoli collection. Supported by Friends of the Library Ngā Hoahoa o Ngā Kete Wānanga-o-Ōtautahi, this event will also feature an army bugler and the New Zealand String Quartet. This act of remembrance | maumahara was a moving occasion.

Research a soldier at the library - Thursday 20 April to Thursday 27 April

If you are feeling curious this year, we have just the events for you. Join our Family History Librarians from Tuakiri | Identity, Level 2 Tūranga for hour long sessions at various libraries where we show you a range of sources for finding out about what your family did the in First World War, Second World War, Boer War, or other twentieth century conflict.

If you want to head further back in time the Family History Librarians will be looking at 19th century soldiers - both in New Zealand and the British Army - at Tūranga on Thursday, 27 April 2023, 2 - 4pm. Sign up for this session and learn about the family history and other resources that will help you sort your Hussars from your Highlanders and your frogging from a flogging.

Poppy Day - Friday 21 April

Poppy Day is the RNZRSA's main fundraising activity. Donations collected on Poppy Day help us improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealand's veterans of all ages.

Anzac Day Walk and History - Sunday 23 April 10am to 12noon

Start at Avebury House and explore the Richmond Red Zone, including a special Anzac art display of white crosses and knitted poppies down at the Ōtākaro-Avon River. your jaunt back at Avebury House with a cup of tea and Anzac biscuit.
Approximate distance: 1.5km
Find out more
Part of the Walking Festival

Anzac Day services

Dawn service at Cathedral Square Tuesday 25 April 6.30am-8am

A dawn service in Cathedral Square will give Christchurch residents a chance to remember New Zealand’s fallen soldiers on Anzac Day. For the first time since the 2011 Earthquakes, it will take place in Cathedral Square under the newly reinstated Citizens war memorial.

The commemorations that mark Australia and New Zealand’s Gallipoli campaign will begin at 6.15am when war veterans will gather at the Worcester bridge and then parade the short distance to Cathedral Square for the traditional dawn service.

The New Zealand Army Band will perform at the service, which will end with the playing of The Last Post, a minute’s silence, and then the singing of the New Zealand national anthem.

For those unable to make it in person, the service will be available live streamed:

Find out more

Anzac Day service at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand Tuesday 25 April 12noon

Join us in honouring our airmen at our Anzac Day Service at 12pm on 25 April in the Thérèse Angelo Wing at the Air Force Museum.

The service is fully wheelchair accessible and a sign language interpreter is present.
Find out more

Other local services:

Heathcote - War Memorial 6.15am
Community ANZAC dawn service 7am at Harewood War Memorial, Harewood School, 721 Harewood Road
Halswell War Memorial / Domain 9am
Hornby War Memorial, outside Hornby Primary School on Waterloo Road 9am
Little River Community Centre 9.30 am
New Brighton Cenotaph, Marine Parade 9.30am
Papanui RSA Parking Area 9.30am
Citizens’ Service Transitional Cathedral, Latimer Square 10am
Lyttelton - War Memorial, Albion Square 10am
Templeton RSA (Banks St ) 11am
Sumner RSA Memorial Gates 11am
Akaroa War Memorial 11.30 am

More about Anzac Day

Anzac Day on Canterbury Stories