111th Anniversary of Chunuk Bair 2026

You’re invited to commemorate the WWI battle of Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, at a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday 8 August 2026 from 8am at Stratford’s Malone Memorial Gates.

After the ceremony, light refreshments will be available to all attendees in the Centennial Rest Rooms on Fenton Street.

One of Stratford’s great war heroes

• Stratford’s Lieutenant-Colonel William George Malone led the Wellington Infantry Battalion which captured Chunuk Bair, a strategic high point of the Sari Bair range, on 8 August 1915. He died the same day as they fought to hold the position.
• The Malone Memorial Gates, opened in 1923 to honour Colonel Malone, are the largest war memorial to an individual soldier in New Zealand.