Anzac Day commemorations in Whangarei

Whangarei MP Dr Shane Reti and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones were among the masses that turned up to remember the fallen.

Part of the large crowd that turn up for the dawn service at the Cenotaph in Laurie Hall Park, Whangarei.

More than 6000 people turned up for the Anzac Day dawn service on a brisk morning at Laurie Hall Park in Whangarei.

Several hundred former and current service personnel were on the Dawn Parade that started at the RSA, in Rust Ave, at 5.45am. Thousands of people lined the streets as the marchers made their way to Laurie Hall Park for the service.

The hour-long ceremony included speeches, laying of wreaths and naming the fallen and ended with the national anthems of Australia and New Zealand.

A Whangarei Boys High School student ready to place a wreath at the cenotaph.

President of the Whangarei RSA, Chris Harold, welcomed and thanked the veterans, elders, families and the wider community for coming along to remember the fallen.

He acknowledged those who lost their lives in service to New Zealand in the battlefields of World War 1, World War 2, and all the other conflicts that this country has been involved in for more than a century.

The dawn service underway on a pleasant morning with thousands in attendance in Whangarei.

Northern Advocate photographer Tania Whyte went along and took these photos.