More than 300 people stood under an azure Dunedin sky to reflect on the cost of war.
"People from all walks of life have come here today to remember those who served our country," New Zealand Army general reserve forces director Brigadier Sean Trengrove said.
"All of our World War 1 veterans have passed on now and the ranks of our World War 2 veterans are becoming thinner, which is a natural inevitability.
"Anzac Day is an opportunity to think about our country and remember all the young men of Otago and Southland who landed at Gallipoli at 2.30pm, 97 years ago. I would have been scared to death," Brig Trengrove said.
At 11.10am, the HMNZS Toroa ensign was raised.
The crowd then rose for the Last Post, while arch-backed servicemen stiffly saluted.
"The soldiers who fought at Gallipoli and went on to the Western Front provided the basis for Montecillo, which opened in 1919 for the wounded of the First World War," Montecillo Trust chairman David More said.
"We will remember them."
