By CHRIS DANIELS
On Anzac Day this year, Australia will get a special gift from New Zealand - a memorial to the friendship between our two nations.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Australian counterpart, John Howard, yesterday posed next to a model of the monument they will dedicate at a sunset ceremony on Anzac eve, April 24.
Mr Howard said he had not had much opportunity to look at the memorial - two 11.5m bronze arches on either side of Canberra's Anzac Parade. "From what I see I think it's very distinctive.'
Asked whether the structure would set off Anzac Parade, he said: "I'm not qualified to be an advocate and I know the perils of architectural commentaries."
The memorial, designed by Wellington sculptor Kingsley Baird, is New Zealand's gift to Australia for its centenary of federation.
It is described as a bronze representation of the handles of a flax basket, or kete.
It is based on the Maori proverb, "Mau tena kiwai o te kete, maku tenei," meaning, "You hold that handle of the basket, I'll hold this one."
There are two gathering places under the kete handles, one for New Zealand, the other for Australia. Stone and designs from both countries are used for these sites.
Soil from Gallipoli battle sites Chunuk Bair and Lone Pine will be put in boxes into the paving.
Anzac Parade's 11 monuments include one built in 1985 for Turkey.
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