Anzac Day 2015

Today is Anzac Day, and the 100th anniversary of that ill-fated landing at Gallipoli. 2779 New Zealanders died in that campaign. There were record crowds at both dawn services and community services around the country today, and the official commemoration at Gallipoli itself was huge.

The photo above is of the official Anzac Day WW100 Commemorative pin. I bought one for me and one for Nigel. Since this is a special year, the special pin seemed appropriate.

This year is also the first in which the public holiday for Anzac Day will be observed on a Monday (on the 27th this year). A law change means that if Anzac Day or Waitangi Day fall on a weekend, the public holiday will be observed on the following Monday. This ensures that Monday-Friday workers don’t miss out on a public holiday when those two holidays fall on a weekend. The observations themselves still happen on the actual day, of course.

Finally something a little different for this year. The video below is from Andrew Little, the Leader of the Opposition. I think it lends some interesting human perspectives.