Wreath behind locked gates
It is perhaps the strangest Anzac Day ceremony in New Zealand.
The Christchurch Citizens’ War Memorial, unveiled nearly exactly 80 years ago, has been off limits since the Canterbury earthquakes of 2011.
The memorial, designed and brought to fruition by local sculptor William Trethewey, is positioned to the northwest of the Christ Church Cathedral and considered too dangerous to visit because of damage to the cathedral.
But an exception is made this Anzac Day, and accompanied by The Press journalists, a few ex-servicemen and their partners are allowed through the locked gates to lay a wreath.
First health-and-safety forms need to be completed and then helmets and hi-vis gear donned. Some of the visitors pull some old army helmets from the boot of a car.
A group of Chinese tourists see the spectacle and begin snapping pictures, some posing with the old soldiers who could take umbrage but are good sports.
The gates are unlocked and the visitors troop in bearing the wreath of bright red, white and purple flowers.
The memorial to those who died and fought in World War I is dirty and surrounded by high grass and weeds. But it is intact, unlike the cathedral which hovers in ruined neglect over the impressive statuary, regarded by many as New Zealand’s finest public monument. (The memorial is the responsibility of the Christchurch City Council.)
First a health-and-safety briefing. Then Craig Cormack, vice-president of the Christchurch Returned and Services (RSA) Association and a territorial soldier for 30 years, and David Rarere, a veteran of the Malaya and Vietnam conflicts, walk up solemnly with the wreath that will be seen only through the wire gates of the cathedral enclosure and mainly by tourists.
The wreath is laid at the foot of the figure of a mother who signifies sacrifice.
Then Jim Lilley, an ex-soldier, and Allan Luchford, ex-navy, and his wife, Cathy, form the next contingent to approach the memorial.
The small group lines up, Cormack brings up a rendition of the Last Post on his cellphone and everyone stands to attention.
Cormack recites:
‘‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.’’
The memorial has six figures – five representing youth, justice, valour, sacrifice, peace – and at the top, an angel naked to the waist, breaking the sword of war. The angel was to be called victory but that was dropped.
The memorial has strong connections to The Press. The main promoter of the memorial, which was unveiled in June 1937, was George Gould, a wealthy landowner and director of The Press .He wanted to put the memorial in front of the cathedral but settled for the present site after an acrimonious debate.
The Christchurch RSA wants the memorial to be moved to Cranmer Square where current Anzac Day dawn services are held.
Cormack doesn’t want to discuss the agitation to free the memorial from its enforced confinement although he supports moving it to Cranmer Square.
‘‘Today is for remembrance,’’ he says on Anzac Day. ‘‘Tomorrow is for the debate.’’
‘‘It’s a very respectful place to be today. I go back to when I was seven years old with my father and I laid my first wreath at this cenotaph here . . .
‘‘I also feel for the people of Christchurch who would have liked to be here today; I represented them as well as well as those who have fallen.’’
The event was organised after ‘‘we started talking about it in the bar one night and I said ‘I can always ask’. The church has been very supportive.’’
Lilley says laying the wreath is the highlight of the day for him.
‘‘This is where I used to do my dawn parades . . . It’s a bit like coming home albeit a very condensed version of the ceremony. Quite moving.’’
Church Property Trustees general manager Gavin Holley says the trust was happy to provide the RSA access to the site for a short time to lay a wreath.
‘‘This is the first time since the February 2011 earthquake that a wreath has been laid at the Citizens’ War Memorial and we are delighted this commemoration took place on Anzac Day.’’