Then an even larger group of much younger men - again all in jackets and ties and with medals and banners proclaiming Alamein, Crete, Italy and, of course, a handful of Battle of Britain fighter pilots. Then a much smaller bunch of much younger looking Korean War vets brought up the rear together with Wrens and bands and other things to impress my young mind.
This was the way that Anzac Days had been commemorated ever since the first Anzac Day in 1916 and, because of its sacred character and deeply personal meaning for those who had lost loved ones, that is how it should always be commemorated - except that the old men in the jeeps are no longer those who fought on the veldt but the diminishing band of those who served in the Solomons, Normandy and elsewhere in the Second World War.
That was then - when New Zealanders were one people and before the newly formed tribal elite of one-eighth and one-sixteenth part-Maoris have tried to take over the country, pushing the rest of us out of the way - even on Anzac Day. Governments - both National and Labour - have been collaborators in this crime, starting with renaming the National War Memorial in Wellington "Pukeahu" - whatever that means.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage produced a programme that had everything from prayers to hymns in two languages - with the so-called Maori language taking first position and primacy over English. In other words this wretched Ministry is collaborating with the tribal elite to bring about division in a society that was once united. There is nothing more divisive than promoting two languages where there was only one before in all official functions.
The ceremony at Wellington began with a "karakia" - in Maori, of course - as if the 2% or 3% of New Zealanders who understand this primitive and largely recently made-up tongue are the only ones who matter. There was also a "karanga" - whatever that is - and a response (all in Maori). The ceremony finished up with a Maori hymn "E Te Ariki" and an ode by the President of the Returned Servicemen's Association (R.S.A.) in Maori which appears to be a translation of that well-known and moving verse "They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old". This followed the Maori "ode" even though an ode is a form of English poetry that had no place in Maori culture as the Maoris didn't even have a written language until the missionaries arrived in the early 19th century and gave them one.
Then it was the National Anthem - in Maori first, of course - and the last thing that the people were forced to suffer was yet another karakia in Maori to polish off proceedings.
In Rotorua the Dawn Service in 2025 was conducted not by the Rotorua R.S.A. , which includes all returned servicemen, but by some race-based racket called Te Arawa Maori Returned Servicemen's League. This one started with a "mihi" (welcome) and then all the rest in an exercise that was more about advancing Maori culture and language and putting down the white man than honouring the war dead.
If anything it was worse in Australia where gutless Returned Servicemen's Leagues, in cahoots with state governments, began many of the services with the new phenomenon of "Welcome to Country" - the Aborigines welcoming Australians to their own country!!!!!
One of the worst of these "humiliation rituals" across the Ditch was in Melbourne where some part-Aborigine, with the very English name of Mark Brown, said, "I'm here to welcome everybody to my father's country [not everybody else's country!]". He then hogged the limelight for four minutes with similar nonsense. "They didn't die for this" called out someone while others booed this demonstration of divisiveness and racism. Oh, and Mark Brown charges up to $4,500 per Welcome to Country ceremony that he presides at.
In Sydney the main Dawn Service was hogged by another part-Aborigine (all part of Australia's tribal elite) called "Uncle" Ray Minniecon, who gave his Acknowledgement of Country as if the Anzac service could not proceed without this little piece of arrogant racism. Not surprisingly he was booed too. He was wearing three medals that he did not earn - and on the wrong side of his chest!
In an interview after the service "Uncle" told the ABC, "This is Aboriginal land. Always was and always will be too. So we stand on the truth. And the truth can't be shaken". Why have an enemy of Australia such as this clown to spit venom on Australia's heritage and rights that the brave Diggers fought for in the two world wars?
When asked about the booing of his "Acknowledgement of Country" Uncle said that those who booed "should understand their place". In other words in a country that once respected free speech they should now bow down to the demands of the tribal elite and say nothing.
So, what is this new phenomenon of "Welcome to the Country" to Australians whose families have lived there for 200 years, who built the country and whose taxes now pay for the massive Aborigine welfare bill? Well, this is what South Australia's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Kyam Maher [a man], said, "Being welcomed to country is something that Aboriginal people have done for tens of thousands of years, welcoming OTHER ABORIGINAL PEOPLE to their particular country". So why use it for welcoming non-Aboriginal Australians who do not need such pious and condescending waffle as they travel around their great continent? Even his statement that aborigines welcomed each other is a lie; in Tasmania, for example, they were divided into five tribes each of whom spoke its own dialect, and whenever they encountered a different tribe, fighting usually took place, using wooden spears and stones.
The barely concealed racism and race hatred towards white people at these ceremonies was described by "First Nations woman" [not "Australian woman"] Colleen Clarke, as "It's welcoming people to OUR country".
Instead of clamping down on the introduction of all this racism into Anzac services many of the authorities in Australia are promoting it. At the Dawn Service at King's Park, Perth, a few hours behind the eastern states, police moved in on certain persons in the crowd and moved five people on from the gathering, saying "Due to your association with the March for Australia group you're being moved from the ceremony due to the belief that you'll interrupt it".
This is the stuff of dictatorship. How do the cops know whether or not someone will do something before it is actually done? Do they think they're God? And what about free speech which was one of the things that our servicemen fought for in the world wars? Australian police are better known for their corruption than their efficiency and this is yet another example of that well known fact.
In the two world wars Australian servicemen fought our external enemies such as Germany and Japan. Now we need to fight the internal enemies such as "Uncle" and all the others who are trying to use Anzac Day to promote their own greedy and racist agendas. And yet the authorities, including some of the R.S.L.s, give such types a platform on Anzac Day.
Fortunately not all R.S.L.s in Australia were so craven and cowardly as they were in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and other places. There was none of this nonsense in Townsville where the President of the Townsville Returned Servicemen's Association, Mr. Colin Mosch, said, "The Anzac Day Dawn Service is about one thing, remembering those who have served and have paid the ultimate sacrifice". Neither Shakespeare not Kipling could have expressed it better. That is the line that we should have in New Zealand too.
John McLean is an historian who has written several books on nineteenth century New Zealand.
That was then - when New Zealanders were one people and before the newly formed tribal elite of one-eighth and one-sixteenth part-Maoris have tried to take over the country, pushing the rest of us out of the way - even on Anzac Day. Governments - both National and Labour - have been collaborators in this crime, starting with renaming the National War Memorial in Wellington "Pukeahu" - whatever that means.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage produced a programme that had everything from prayers to hymns in two languages - with the so-called Maori language taking first position and primacy over English. In other words this wretched Ministry is collaborating with the tribal elite to bring about division in a society that was once united. There is nothing more divisive than promoting two languages where there was only one before in all official functions.
The ceremony at Wellington began with a "karakia" - in Maori, of course - as if the 2% or 3% of New Zealanders who understand this primitive and largely recently made-up tongue are the only ones who matter. There was also a "karanga" - whatever that is - and a response (all in Maori). The ceremony finished up with a Maori hymn "E Te Ariki" and an ode by the President of the Returned Servicemen's Association (R.S.A.) in Maori which appears to be a translation of that well-known and moving verse "They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old". This followed the Maori "ode" even though an ode is a form of English poetry that had no place in Maori culture as the Maoris didn't even have a written language until the missionaries arrived in the early 19th century and gave them one.
Then it was the National Anthem - in Maori first, of course - and the last thing that the people were forced to suffer was yet another karakia in Maori to polish off proceedings.
In Rotorua the Dawn Service in 2025 was conducted not by the Rotorua R.S.A. , which includes all returned servicemen, but by some race-based racket called Te Arawa Maori Returned Servicemen's League. This one started with a "mihi" (welcome) and then all the rest in an exercise that was more about advancing Maori culture and language and putting down the white man than honouring the war dead.
If anything it was worse in Australia where gutless Returned Servicemen's Leagues, in cahoots with state governments, began many of the services with the new phenomenon of "Welcome to Country" - the Aborigines welcoming Australians to their own country!!!!!
One of the worst of these "humiliation rituals" across the Ditch was in Melbourne where some part-Aborigine, with the very English name of Mark Brown, said, "I'm here to welcome everybody to my father's country [not everybody else's country!]". He then hogged the limelight for four minutes with similar nonsense. "They didn't die for this" called out someone while others booed this demonstration of divisiveness and racism. Oh, and Mark Brown charges up to $4,500 per Welcome to Country ceremony that he presides at.
In Sydney the main Dawn Service was hogged by another part-Aborigine (all part of Australia's tribal elite) called "Uncle" Ray Minniecon, who gave his Acknowledgement of Country as if the Anzac service could not proceed without this little piece of arrogant racism. Not surprisingly he was booed too. He was wearing three medals that he did not earn - and on the wrong side of his chest!
In an interview after the service "Uncle" told the ABC, "This is Aboriginal land. Always was and always will be too. So we stand on the truth. And the truth can't be shaken". Why have an enemy of Australia such as this clown to spit venom on Australia's heritage and rights that the brave Diggers fought for in the two world wars?
When asked about the booing of his "Acknowledgement of Country" Uncle said that those who booed "should understand their place". In other words in a country that once respected free speech they should now bow down to the demands of the tribal elite and say nothing.
So, what is this new phenomenon of "Welcome to the Country" to Australians whose families have lived there for 200 years, who built the country and whose taxes now pay for the massive Aborigine welfare bill? Well, this is what South Australia's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Kyam Maher [a man], said, "Being welcomed to country is something that Aboriginal people have done for tens of thousands of years, welcoming OTHER ABORIGINAL PEOPLE to their particular country". So why use it for welcoming non-Aboriginal Australians who do not need such pious and condescending waffle as they travel around their great continent? Even his statement that aborigines welcomed each other is a lie; in Tasmania, for example, they were divided into five tribes each of whom spoke its own dialect, and whenever they encountered a different tribe, fighting usually took place, using wooden spears and stones.
The barely concealed racism and race hatred towards white people at these ceremonies was described by "First Nations woman" [not "Australian woman"] Colleen Clarke, as "It's welcoming people to OUR country".
Instead of clamping down on the introduction of all this racism into Anzac services many of the authorities in Australia are promoting it. At the Dawn Service at King's Park, Perth, a few hours behind the eastern states, police moved in on certain persons in the crowd and moved five people on from the gathering, saying "Due to your association with the March for Australia group you're being moved from the ceremony due to the belief that you'll interrupt it".
This is the stuff of dictatorship. How do the cops know whether or not someone will do something before it is actually done? Do they think they're God? And what about free speech which was one of the things that our servicemen fought for in the world wars? Australian police are better known for their corruption than their efficiency and this is yet another example of that well known fact.
In the two world wars Australian servicemen fought our external enemies such as Germany and Japan. Now we need to fight the internal enemies such as "Uncle" and all the others who are trying to use Anzac Day to promote their own greedy and racist agendas. And yet the authorities, including some of the R.S.L.s, give such types a platform on Anzac Day.
Fortunately not all R.S.L.s in Australia were so craven and cowardly as they were in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and other places. There was none of this nonsense in Townsville where the President of the Townsville Returned Servicemen's Association, Mr. Colin Mosch, said, "The Anzac Day Dawn Service is about one thing, remembering those who have served and have paid the ultimate sacrifice". Neither Shakespeare not Kipling could have expressed it better. That is the line that we should have in New Zealand too.
John McLean is an historian who has written several books on nineteenth century New Zealand.
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