Governor-General’s Anzac Day Dawn Service Address – Government House

The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, GNZM, QSO
Governor-General of New Zealand
Anzac Day Dawn Service Address 2025
Auckland War Memorial Museum

Takiri ko te ata, haehaetia te pō

E koro mā i te pō!

Nga Toa a Tūmatauenga!

Ngā Toa a Ranginui

Ngā toa a Tangaroa

Hoki wairua mai, ki runga i ō koutou marae

Ki o koutou maunga karangaranga.

E okioki mai nā i nga taumata, nga kahurangi

Tirohia mai ra ki ō koutou uri

E hāpai nei i ngā kupu ōhākī

Tangihia, mihia nga aitua

Huihuia mai ki tēnei marae

Te hunga ora

Tēnā koutou

Tēnā koutou

Tēnā tātou katoa

I specifically acknowledge:

The Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister
Brad Williams, Consul General for the Commonwealth of Australia
Air Vice Marshal Darryn Webb, Chief of Air Force
His Worship Wayne Brown, Mayor of Auckland
Frédéric Leturque, Mayor of Arras, France
Sir Wayne Shelford, National President of the RNZRSA
Sir Graham Lowe, Patron of the Auckland RSA
Graham Gibson, President of the Auckland RSA
Brad Hodgson, Auckland RSA
Dr David Reeves, Chief Executive of the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Mr Keutekarakia Mataroa, Dean of the Auckland Consular Corps

A special welcome to people who have served – or are currently serving in our Defence Force.

This Anzac Day marks 110 years since the Gallipoli landings by soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – the ANZACS. It signalled the beginning of a campaign that was to take the lives of so many of our young men – and would devastate the communities they left behind at home. One year later, in 1916, grieving New Zealanders gathered to express their sorrow at the first Anzac Day commemoration.

Today, in our towns, cities and hamlets across the length and breadth of Aotearoa – your comrades have gathered in the chill light of dawn, alongside their families and communities, to commemorate Anzac Day.

This morning, your thoughts may be turning to your experience of military service – and to those who are missing from among your ranks.

It’s an honour to join you and the people of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, at our nation’s preeminent site of remembrance – to show our aroha and respect for the many hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in our history who have answered the call to arms – and to express our deep sorrow for those who never returned from the field of battle, or who subsequently died of their wounds.

This year we mark another significant anniversary in our nation’s military history. Eighty years ago, after nearly six long years, the Second World War finally came to an end. An astonishing 140,000 New Zealanders had served in the European, North African and the Pacific theatres of war, and almost 12,000 lost their lives as a result of their war service. Around one third of those casualties were from Auckland.

Once again, our families and communities experienced the terrible pain of sacrifice and loss, and the impacts of that trauma lingered for generations.

Eighty years ago, New Zealanders also played a role in establishing the United Nations, which many people fervently hoped would ensure that the horrors of the First and Second World Wars could never be repeated.

In the years since, conflict on that scale has indeed been avoided, but securing peaceful resolution to geopolitical tensions has remained elusive.

New Zealand has regularly been called upon to support our allies – from the Korean War in the 1950s – through to the conflict in Afghanistan in the 2000s. Our service personnel have also served in many peace-keeping operations around the globe, and frequently assist people in need in the aftermath of natural disasters – both here in Aotearoa, and in the Pacific.

To those of you who are currently serving in our Defence Force, I sincerely thank you, on behalf of your fellow citizens. We recognise that your lives, and the lives of your families are affected by the demands of military service – and we salute your courage and readiness to serve in support of collective security efforts with our allies.

This Anzac Day – when we reflect on the sobering realities of war, and the current state of the world, we see the ideals embodied in the United Nations being routinely ignored, and coercive power being used to threaten human rights and the territorial sovereignty of others.

In these volatile and uncertain times – New Zealand continues to subscribe to the ideal of peaceful resolution of geopolitical tensions – while also acknowledging the role our nation’s defence personnel have played – and will continue to play in defending freedom, justice and the rule of law.

In this way, they contribute to efforts to maintain and extend the blessings of peace, security and stability in the world.

On this Anzac Day, and the Anzac Days to come, we remain committed to honour their service.

Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou.