Anzac Day will be commemorated on Saturday 25 April.
- All our libraries will be closed on this public holiday. Foundation Cafe at Tūranga is open 5am to 12noon
- Anzac Day (observed) Monday 27 April 2026 Tūranga is open from 10am to 5pm, all other libraries closed
- Read our page on Anzac Day and Gallipoli to find out more about the history of this commemoration
Friday 24 April 2pm to 3.30pm: Heritage Highlights - Voices from Japan: Recordings of J – Force
Sarah Johnston is a Christchurch-based sound history researcher who has been listening to radio broadcasts made between 1946 and 1948 by some of the 12,000 New Zealand military personnel who served in Japan as part of “J-Force”. She will play some of the recordings (courtesy of RNZ and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision) and talk about what these sound archives can tell us about post-war Japan and New Zealand’s role there as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.
Location: Auaha Hīhī, He Hononga| Ground Floor, Tūranga
Ages: 14 years +
Cost: Free
Bookings Required: Book now
Anzac Day services
Dawn service at Cathedral Square: Saturday 25 April 6.30am to 8am
The commemorations that mark Australia and New Zealand’s Gallipoli campaign will begin at 6.15am when veterans and servicemen, active and retired, will gather at the Worcester Bridge and then parade the short distance to Cathedral Square for the traditional dawn service in Cathedral Square under the Citizen’s War Memorial.
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 at the Anzac Day Dawn Service 2026 live stream.
Anzac Day service at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand Saturday 25 April 12noon
The Air Force Museum of New Zealand Anzac Service will be held at 12pm on 25 April at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, 45 Harvard Avenue, Wigram, Christchurch.
Other local services
Anzac Day services will also be held around Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. The usual times and locations are:
- Akaroa: War Memorial 11.30am
- Aranui: St Ambrose Church 309 Breezes Road, Aranui 11am
- Belfast: War Memorial at Sheldon Park Main North Road, Belfast 8.30am
- Cashmere: 19th Battalion and Armoured Regiment Memorial Victoria Park, 101 Victoria Park Road, Cashmere 8am
- Central City: Citizens’ Service: Transitional Cathedral Latimer Square, 234 Hereford Street 10am
- Diamond Harbour: War Memorial Hall Stoddart Point Reserve 10.30am
- Heathcote: War Memorial (Martindale-Bridle Path-Flavell) 6.15am
- Halswell: War Memorial/Domain 324A Halswell Road 9am
- Harewood: Harewood War Memorial, Harewood Primary School 721 Harewood Road 7am
- Hornby: Hornby War Memorial / Domain Waterloo Road, Hornby 9am
- Ilam: University of Canterbury, Matariki Quad, 20 Kirkwood Avenue 10am
- Little River: Community Centre 44 Western Valley Road, Little River 9.30am
- Lyttelton: War Memorial Albion Square, 44 London Street, Lyttelton 10am
- New Brighton: Cenotaph Marine Parade 10am
- Papanui: Papanui Club 310 Sawyers Arms Road, 10am
- Riccarton: 20th Battalion Association, Jane Deans Close, 9.00am
- Sumner: RSA Memorial Gates 11am
- Templeton: Templeton RSA 33 Banks Street 11am
- Waltham: Waltham Park Memorial Gates 9.30am
What's on: 25 April
Hoake ki te Taiao City Nature Challenge
Help put Ōtautahi Christchurch's biodiversity on the map! Take part and record as many species possible. The 2026 City Nature Challenge takes place from 24 April to 27 April. Enjoy related library events in the lead-up to the challenge.
Find out more
Whānau | wildlife | look and find! Saturday 25 April 10am to 1pm
Richmond Community Garden invites all nature-loving families to explore what's living in their garden, as part of the City Nature Challenge!
Find out more
City Nature Challenge Bioblitz Saturday 25 April 10am to 12noon
Explore Brooker Forest with Kiwi Conservation Club using all your senses to spot, sniff out, feel and hear all the living things that surround us!
Find out more
Woolston Brass presents ANZAC: Saturday 25 April 2pm to 4pm
Voices of Gallipoli
In 2023, we hosted a Voices of Gallipoli event at Tūranga. 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 featured an army bugler and the New Zealand String Quartet. This act of remembrance | maumahara was a moving occasion.
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