Anzac bell

Anzac bell

• Height  1499 mm
• Width  1803 mm
• Weight  3177 kg
• Note  A#

As soon as the opportunity for groups to fund particular bells was advertised in May 1926, the bells were over-subscribed, with 77 applications for the 49 bells. Wellington companies and businesses agreed to combine in order to purchase the third largest bell in the instrument, which also ensured that they did not compete for money in their fundraising efforts. 

This bell was named 'Anzac', to mark the efforts of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli. Three of the largest bells in the Carillon were used to represent the three main theatres in which the New Zealand Expeditionary Force served in the war – this one, plus the 'Palestine' bell for the Middle East, and the 'Somme' bell for the Western Front. 

The quotation on the bell is from Lieutenant-General William Birdwood, who was in charge of the Anzacs during the invasion. He wrote this phrase particularly in relation to efforts of the Anzac troops in the battle of Chunuk Bair in early August 1915; it was quoted by Sir Ian Hamilton in his official dispatch about the events of Gallipoli written in 1916.

Curiously, this bell’s inscription gives the date for Gallipoli as 1916, whereas New Zealand’s efforts there took place entirely in the year 1915. It is not known why this date was chosen for the inscription. Possibly it was an error. In a 1930s commemorative publication about the Carillon 1915 was given as the date inscribed on the bell.

In later years the 'Anzac' bell was sounded as part of carillon recitals to mark particular events connected with the Anzac forces, such as the evacuation of the troops from Gallipoli in December 1915. It was also sounded on other special occasions such as the visit to the Carillon of General Alexander Godley (1867–1957) in 1935. Godley had commanded the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the landings at Gallipoli. It was also sounded in the same year as the funeral cortege of Reverend Bramwell Scott, the Methodist Minister who had been a padre to the troops during the war and to the territorials afterwards, passed by the Carillon.