A display of nearly 700 crosses planted at Dunedin's Queens Gardens will be the first of many memorials to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Otago's involvement in World War 1, the Dunedin City Council says.
The 693 wooden crosses put in place on Wednesday represented the Otago personnel who died in the war in 1915, including the 147 who fell at the Battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli on August 6-10.
Council community events co-ordinator Marilyn Anderson said various sets of crosses would appear by the gardens' Cenotaph over the next four years to remember other significant events during the war.
''The Battle of Chunuk Bair was the most important event at Gallipoli since the landing in April,'' she said.
The crosses were supplied by the Fields of Remembrance Trust and erected by Otago regional members of the New Zealand Army and New Zealand Navy.
They were in parade order and set 65cm apart - as the soldiers would have been on parade.
Each one contained the name and number of the fallen soldier.
Personnel who served in the war were from the Otago Infantry Battalion, later the Otago Regiment, and the Otago Mounted Rifles, Ms Anderson said.
The eldest was aged 38 and the youngest 19.
Ms Anderson said anyone who wanted to claim a cross with a connection to family members could do so by contacting the council.
The collection, named the Field of Remembrance, was a joint initiative by the council, army and navy personnel and the Dunedin RSA.
It would remain in place for about a month, she said.
The next set of crosses was due to arrive in February next year but Ms Anderson was not sure when the next display would be.
