Every year for the past 71 years a large crowd has gathered on the waterfront in Browns Bay, North Shore to honour the fallen service-men and -women on Anzac Day.
1954 was the first year of the dawn service in Browns Bay. “The atmosphere and setting on the waterfront, the large crowd of service-men gathered, and the beach cliffs in the distance are eerily like the service in Anzac Cove on the coast of Türkiye on the 25 April each year," says Graeme Roger, ex-Navy and current member of East Coast Bays RSA (ECB RSA) Trust.
This dawn service held on the shores of our local bay at sunrise is the only dawn service held across Auckland city other than the significant dawn service and parade that takes place at the Auckland Museum and Domain.
Representatives of all the military bases on the North Shore attend the parade every year to honour their fallen comrades. For this reason, the Air Force always performs a magnificent "fly over" on Anzac Day.
Early on the morning of the dawn service the ECB RSA very generously provides a cooked breakfast to all service-men and -women plus their families, which is available at the Bays Club in Browns Bay. Many of the cafés and bars along the waterfront area apply for special licences so they can open and serve the volunteers and service-men. Last year the cafés donated around four hundred coffees to the crowd that attend the dawn service. Most of the Navy turns up to Browns Bay for the early breakfast and free ‘tots’ of rum.
For the past 30years the New Zealand Police Pipe Band (bagpipes) has also been involved with the Browns Bay dawn parade. "Over the past three decades it has been a privilege to participate in the significant coastal parade and dawn service in Browns Bay," says Stuart Hobson of New Zealand Police.
This year David Gilbert, #439155 RNZ Airforce, (born 18 February 1925 and now one hundred years old) will lay the Anzac wreath. David served in World War Two.
The New Zealand RSA was started in 1916 by returning Anzacs during World War One to provide support and comfort for service-men and their families. Records show that the very first meetings of the RSA were held in the Browns Bay Surf Club (Eastern United SLC) and Progress Hall, both in Anzac Road (on the current site of The Bays club). Meetings were also held at the 555 Cabaret and Dance Club which was built in 1925.
In those early days Browns Bay was a quiet beach-side town. All visitors arrived by boat or steam ship, and it was a holiday destination for many Auckland residents.
Even though it may be surprising that Browns Bay and its small population had such an early RSA, it was the focal point of the East Coast Bays community.
Until the mid-1950s the area was part of Waitemata County, which encompassed a huge but sparsely populated area where "roading was a major expense". There was little money left for community facilities. However, the community of Browns Bay could boast it had a boat club as early as 1902. The transport links with Auckland city improved in the 1920s with a regular bus service connecting with the ferry in Bayswater.
A lot of the older members and their families remember the happy times for many years in the original Memorial Hall, at 13 Bute Road, built in 1951. The design of the original hall featured high windows to make the hall private enough for the Freemasons (who rented the building for their secretive meetings). The ECB RSA's next building, built on the site at 13-15 Bute Road in the mid 1990s, is now home to the Bays Health Medical Centre. They fondly remember the original building which hosted many Anzac remembrances, wonderful dances, a high-quality restaurant, New Year's Eve celebrations, and the playcentre in the 1950s. They also recall the amazing children’s Christmas parties and family picnics/ boys' bus trips to Boystown in Auckland City. The club thrived in the sixties, seventies and into the eighties. Those were the days.
The women’s section of the RSA is now in recess. Started in 1943, the women’s section was huge in the 1950s and extremely popular throughout the '60s, '70s and '80s. Sadly, the days of the ladies' cake baking is now over.
The Norfolk pine trees were planted on the waterfront in 1930. In 1966 the current beachfront site became a permanent memorial. Early records show that the large stone at the memorial was donated by Mr G. Smale and that Mr T. Talamada arranged the cutting and shaping of the stone.
Today the ECB RSA has two lovely women who help run everything. Donna Stewart (ECB RSA vice president) and Julie Windybank (ECB RSA executive committee member) put in many hours to keep the RSA going. Donna does most the communication with Auckland Council in preparation for the busy evens of Anzac Day. Donna and Carol are currently working on a display that will celebrate the centenary of ECB RSA. The heritage display of photos, memorabilia and books will be on display at the Browns Bay library throughout April. Later this year a special veterans' lunch will be held to mark the 100th anniversary of ECB RSA. ECB RSA will advertise the centenary locally in the Bays and may have military displays on Anzac Day. They are currently interviewing veterans for videos to be shown on Anzac Day and hopefully at Browns Bay library as well.
"We often forget that the elderly service-men and -women, who are nearing the ends of their lives, were aged between 25 and 40 years when they returned home from the horrors of war. They were still young and wanted to enjoy the life for which they had so valiantly fought. So the RSA was also a place to let their hair down and to forget their past experiences," says Carol, who lives in Torbay.
Donna, Julie, and Carol are all daughters of past presidents, and life members of the ECB RSA. They have ordered 20,000 poppies for the annual Poppy Day to be held on Friday 11 April.
Many RSAs have seen a major decline in recent years, due to economic reasons. Commercially it is hard to exist in the Browns Bay community. Yet ECB RSA remains strong. from 1 July the phone in the office of ECB RSA rings "off the wall" as the older generation always wants to know how to renew their membership. They always pay with cash or eftpos, and Julie’s administration work for the RSA becomes very tricky as there is no longer a bank in Browns Bay. Every time she needs to deal with the bank, it means physically getting in the car and driving to the Albany branch.
Of course, many veterans never forget to renew their membership. Membership prices are currently $30 for an associate member, $25 for returned and service members (over 75 years) and free for those ninety and over.
The eldest member Ron Taylor, at 103 years old, has only recently given up driving his car! The youngest member, Will, is in his thirties and is currently serving in the Navy.
ECB RSA is not just involved with Anzac Day events. It is also active in providing a perhaps surprising number of initiatives in the community. One of these is to provide a welfare car to transport veterans to any medical appointments, anywhere across Auckland. The club also provides a volunteer driver; Anthea Avery is 85 years old and an ex-taxi driver. The car, a Toyota Yaris donated by the estate of John Charles Mackay (#10017147) is endorsed with images of service-men and beautiful bright red poppies.
"Anthea is a ‘toot’er’. She is lovely, with a heart of gold, " says Graeme Roger. GPs give her details out to veterans in need, and she averages about 20 trips each month, often to take veterans to the eye clinic in Greenlane, or trips to North Shore, Waitakere or Auckland hospitals. She will often does a practice run if needed. Anthea is a great companion and chats through the whole trip plus often accompanies the person to their appointment.
ECB RSA also works closely with and donates to the Vanguard Military School. At the end of 2024 they were immensely proud to say 104 cadets had passed through the school. The club also provides two air cadetships for the Air Force plus two cadetships for the Navy. It donates to the Remembrance Army (which maintains headstones), the Invictus Games, North Harbour Special Olympics, and to Te Kiwi Maia (first responders and Defence support).
For the past few years, the office and home of the RSA has been at the Browns Bay Bowling Club, at 784 Beach Road, where it hosts weekly events. On Tuesday and Thursday there is indoor bowls at 10 am, Wednesday is for North Harbour Special Olympics, and on Thursdays at 7pm there is Housie. Friday is Club night from 4 pm, with meals from 5-7.30 pm, and an Ode of remembrance at 6pm. Members are welcome to bring a guest. Usually, a nice crowd of around 40 RSA members gathers on Friday afternoon for a discounted drink and a lovely home-cooked meal for just $20 (including pudding),
The bowling club is closed on Mondays. The bar at the bowling club opens every afternoon; meals are available on Thursday evening as well at the bowling club as they have their social evening on Thursday night.
Although Browns Bay a good place to go for a coffee, have your ‘nails done,’ have a haircut or grab a drink at a bar, at the original beach-side community of Browns Bay it is no longer possible to buy (what used to be a common purchase) the popular Tip Top ice cream in a cone on the way back home from the beach, because there are no longer any dairies in Browns Bay. However, community spirit is alive and well in this community and young peopel are encouraged to get involved in local activities. If you know a young person who is interested in joining one of the cadet groups here are a few contacts:
