On Saturday I went to Tinui, a little village on the road from Masterton to Castlepoint. It's a beautiful drive from Kaiparoro, and a very special place to visit, because Tinui held the world's first Anzac Day service - an astonishing piece of history for such a tiny settlement (population 27, according to the locals at the pub).
On 25 April 1916, a year after the first landings at Gallipoli, Rev Basil Ashcroft held an Anzac service at the Church of the Good Shepherd and then, with others from the local community, climbed the hill behind the village to erect a cross on the top of it. The original cross was wooden and had to be replaced in 1965, but today the Tinui cross still overlooks the village, with its church and war memorial hall.
You can read more about the Anzac connection
here, together with the plans for this year's Anzac Day commemorations. Rev Ashcroft's great grandson is going to present the Anzac address - that's pretty amazing.
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The view from the village: the cross is at the top of Mt Maunsell,
just past the stand of trees on the left side of the crest of the hill, |
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| The Church of the Good Shephered |
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| "They lie dead in many lands that we may live here in peace" |
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| My favourite road sign at Tinui |
