VE Day in Gisborne: Criticism over postponed celebrations due to Churchill’s timing

8th May 1945: People dancing in the streets of London during the celebrations for VE Day. Original Publication: Picture Post - 1991 - This Was VE Day In London - pub. 19th May 1945 (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) was not entirely a day of joyous celebration for Gisborne Borough Council.

The council met that night, with Councillor M.J. White stating that the meeting was being held “under particularly happy circumstances,” according to the next day’s Gisborne Herald.

But New Zealand celebrations were put on hold for a day to allow British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to announce victory in London on May 8, British time, and the delay resulted in Gisborne Borough Council being criticised.

At the council meeting, Gisborne mayor Noel Bull said the criticism was unfair.

Bull said Acting Prime Minister Walter Nash had informed him by telegraph that victory celebrations could not be staged before Churchill made his official announcement.

“I think council members agree that spontaneous celebrations would have been preferable upon the announcement of peace, but what could be done other than to follow the lead given by the acting Prime Minister Walter Nash,” said Bull.

“Victory celebrations could hardly be held before the actual announcement had been officially made by the man who had carried Britain through the war, Mr Churchill.”

The Gisborne Herald of May 9, 1945, reports on the end of the war with Nazi Germany and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill giving his victory speech. New Zealand celebrations could not start until after Churchill's announcement although kiwis were aware of Germany's surrender.

Alterations had to be made to existing arrangements, said the mayor.

The Gisborne Herald reported that public servants in Wellington had staged spontaneous celebrations (on May 8), immediately celebrating the end of the European war.

They created a paper storm over Lambton Quay, ripping up records and throwing them out of the windows.

At the Civic Theatre on Auckland’s Queen St, the manager stopped the film and announced the European war was over.

Moviegoers poured on to the streets to join thousands of other Aucklanders who had heard the news of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

Historic New Zealand World War TWo (WWII) End of War celebrations VE Day in Queen Street Auckland. May 1945

Nash announced that he would speak to the nation at 1am (May 9) immediately after Churchill made his broadcast in London announcing the end of the war in Europe.

A national ceremony would be held in Wellington at noon, with other commemorations around New Zealand not beginning before 1pm.

Bells and sirens would be sounded at 7am on May 9, with that day and May 10 (Wednesday and Thursday) being public holidays, announced Nash.

Gisborne’s official celebrations were held at 1pm as mandated by Nash, with the mayor and other dignitaries speaking in Peel Street from a platform.

The Salvation Army, the City Band, the Gisborne Pipe and Drum Band and the Home Guard Band played before and after the ceremony and “marched in the business area playing suitable airs and patriotic songs,” reported the Gisborne Herald.

Bull, in his speech, characterised the day as one of rejoicing tempered by the knowledge that the German surrender did not mean the end of the war.

Gisborne RSA president R.F. Gambrill said he hoped the mistakes of the 1920s to 1930s would not be repeated, and that they would not lead to another world war.

Gisborne MP Billy Coleman said the “democratic nations had crushed again the most dangerous enemy to peace.”

He prayed that the enemy might never rise again.

The Gisborne Herald reported that bars were closed on the afternoon of May 9 while bakers announced no bread would be baked or delivered that day.

Picture theatres remained open across the nation with the government’s permission.

In an article with the subheadline “Frustrated Celebrants”, the Gisborne Herald of May 10 reported on other celebrations being of a muted nature.

There was a bonfire on Kaiti Hill with limited materials last evening.

“VE Day celebrations in Gisborne were restricted mainly to private parties and attendance at the pictures.”

The crowd who attended the official 1pm event “were in a mood to make the day a bright patch in a dull season; but the facilities were not available, and no lead appeared to be forthcoming.

”The general feeling was that “Gisborne had not lived up to its reputation as a town with initiative”.

An open-air religious service was held on Sunday, May 13.