Katikati College Head Students Share Personal Anzac Stories at Dawn Service

Katikati College head students took centre stage at this year's Anzac Day dawn service, delivering moving speeches that connected the weight of history to their own lives and communities. Head student Hannah Gourlay shared the story of her great-uncle Andrew — known as Andy — who was of Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāi Tahu descent from the Maketū-Rotorua area.

Andy volunteered for the army at the outbreak of World War II but was initially discharged as medically unfit due to childhood tuberculosis. Undeterred, he re-enlisted months later under his brother Robert's name and arranged for someone else to sit his medical. He was posted to the 28th Māori Battalion in 1941 and served in the western desert for two years before being sent home on a hospital ship when tuberculosis returned. He died on 31 July 1946, aged just 27 — only 17 days before his nephew, Gourlay's grandfather, was born.

Fellow head student Jack Harray reflected on the scale of the Gallipoli campaign, noting that the more than 2,700 New Zealanders who lost their lives there was equivalent to the entire school population multiplied by three. He emphasised that Anzac Day extends well beyond Gallipoli, encompassing every New Zealander and Australian who has served in peacekeeping, disaster relief and ongoing conflicts.

The service also featured the Ode of Remembrance read in te reo Māori by Gourlay and in English by deputy head student Charlotte Tanner, before RSA deputy president Ross Vaile lowered the New Zealand flag to conclude the dawn service.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).