Diverse groups came together

HMNZS Otago executive officer Lieutenant Nathan Vink (RNZN) addresses a crowd of thousands during...
HMNZS Otago executive officer Lieutenant Nathan Vink (RNZN) addresses a crowd of thousands during the inaugural Wanaka Anzac Day dawn service on the lakefront. PHOTOS: LUCY IBBOTSON
Bugler Hamish McLean (15) during the inaugural Wanaka Anzac Day dawn service.
Bugler Hamish McLean (15) during the inaugural Wanaka Anzac Day dawn service.
A 1915 Rover Sunbeam World War 1 ambulance from Wanaka's National Transport and Toy Museum leads...
A 1915 Rover Sunbeam World War 1 ambulance from Wanaka's National Transport and Toy Museum leads the official Anzac Day parade up Ardmore St.
Wanaka man Major Ian Piercy, 2/4 Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, salutes at the...
Wanaka man Major Ian Piercy, 2/4 Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, salutes at the wreath-laying ceremony.
Queenstown Lakes district councillor Calum MacLeod (left) and Wanaka Community Board member Ross...
Queenstown Lakes district councillor Calum MacLeod (left) and Wanaka Community Board member Ross McRobie carry their wreath.
Tina Simmonds and Fletcher Davison (7), representing St John Wanaka.
Tina Simmonds and Fletcher Davison (7), representing St John Wanaka.
Rose Deacon and Alex Graham (both 10), from the Wanaka Cubs.
Rose Deacon and Alex Graham (both 10), from the Wanaka Cubs.
Nick (15) and Liam (10) Bates, wear the medals of their late father, Wanaka volunteer firefighter...
Nick (15) and Liam (10) Bates, wear the medals of their late father, Wanaka volunteer firefighter Warren Bates, while accompanied by Mr Bates' fellow brigade members Bruno Galloway (left) and Ralph Fegan.

The 7am dawn service at the newly-renovated war memorial on the Lake Hawea peninsula attracted more than 600 people.

Guest speaker was Lieutenant Emma Pickering, supply officer on HMNZS Otago.

At the same time as the Hawea commemorations, several thousand people gathered on Wanaka's lakefront for the town's inaugural dawn service, featuring guest speaker HMNZS Otago executive officer Lieutenant Nathan Vink.

He also spoke at the 9.30am civic service at the Lake Wanaka Centre and recalled New Zealanders' ''multiple concepts of identity'' - particularly in provincial terms - during World War 1, which was reflected in the organisation of the country's expeditionary forces.

''Gallilopi threw those disparate provincial groups together ... servicemen developed a national consciousness and became New Zealanders first and foremost and Aucklanders, Nelsonians or Cantabrians second.''

Mount Aspiring College pupils Katherine Millis and John Steven (both 17) also spoke during the civic service, reading the roll of honour.

Katherine said young people today lived with the privilege of never truly knowing the definition of war.

''We as an age-group have been protected from those experiences by people whose faces we have not seen and pain we have not felt.''

John paid tribute to his great-great-uncle who kept a journal and carried it in his shirt pocket during the war. Inherited by John's family, the journal had a hole through it ''made by the bullet that took his life''.

After the civic service, a parade marched to the Chalmers St cenotaph for the wreath-laying.

The Australian national anthem was sung at all Upper Clutha services and three Tiger Moths flew overhead.

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