Wellington’s War Memorial Carillon Bells to Ring for the First Time in Fourteen Years on ANZAC Day

Wellington’s Pukeahu National War Memorial carillon tower will ring for the first time in well over a decade on ANZAC Day, bringing back a sound that has been missing from the capital since seismic concerns silenced the bells in 2012. For the tens of thousands expected at Friday’s dawn service, it will be the first time many have heard the instrument at all.

The tower holds 74 bells with a combined weight of approximately 70 tonnes. At the centre of that collection is the Rangimarie, a bell weighing 12 tonnes that ranks as the third heaviest carillon bell in the world. That fact alone positions Wellington’s memorial instrument among a very small number of its kind globally — yet for most of the past 14 years, the Rangimarie and its companions have sat silent, locked behind scaffolding and seismic concerns while the city went about its life below.

The tower was opened in 1932. In the decades since, whānau members and members of the public have donated or sponsored individual bells, making the instrument a living memorial shaped not just by government but by families honouring those who served. The carillon became part of the capital’s ceremonial heartbeat, marking commemorations at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park at the top of Kent Terrace.

The silence began gradually after 2012, when engineers identified earthquake vulnerability in the structure. A further assessment in 2020 confirmed that the tower remained at risk despite earlier repair work. Since then, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has committed $10.1 million to earthquake strengthening. Most of that work is now complete, though about 10 bells still need to be attached to their stainless steel playing cords before the full instrument can be used.

The path back to performance was not without bureaucratic stumbling. As the years of work stretched on, the ministry quietly disestablished the position of local carillonist — a cost-cutting measure that left the instrument without a dedicated player even as the structural work neared completion. That decision means there is currently no New Zealand-based musician trained to play the tower’s instrument.

The solution for this ANZAC Day has been to bring Peter Bray from Canberra. Bray is a carillonist of long experience and made the trip across the Tasman as a representative of the Carillon Society of Australia.

“I feel quite honoured to represent the carillon society of Australia,” Bray said ahead of the performance.

On the instrument itself, Bray was enthusiastic. “It has quite a warm sound. A big, large, warm, long-resonant-sounding bells,” he said, describing an acoustic that is produced by the scale and age of the metal rather than any electronic amplification.

The programme for Friday morning has been selected to suit both the occasion and the capabilities of the restored instrument. Six pieces will be performed, including the beloved waiata Pōkarekare Ana, alongside works by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins and the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The selection reflects a balance between the recognisably New Zealand and the broadly contemplative — music suited to a gathering of remembrance at first light.

Before the recital begins, the Rangimarie bell will be tolled four times. Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae, head of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, described the significance of that moment. “The Rangimarie bell will be tolled four times to acknowledge those who served,” he said. He also spoke to the experience of hearing the instrument in the space where it lives. “We’ve had the privilege of being in the room when it’s being played,” he said, in a reference to the preparations that preceded Friday’s public performance.

The word Rangimarie carries its own weight. In te reo Māori it can be understood as peace, calm, or serenity — a name particularly fitting for the largest bell at a memorial site, and for a moment at which New Zealand pauses to consider the cost of war and the meaning of service.

The longer-term plan is for the carillon to become a regular presence in Wellington’s cultural life rather than a once-in-a-decade event. The ministry has indicated it hopes to arrange monthly recitals at the Pukeahu site, and is in early discussions with Victoria University of Wellington’s music department about training a local carillonist to maintain the instrument and perform on it regularly. If that process succeeds, Wellington would once again have a resident practitioner of what is one of the world’s rarer musical disciplines — a performer whose instrument weighs 70 tonnes and can be heard from much of the surrounding city.

For now, the goal is simpler. On Friday morning, in the dark before dawn, the Rangimarie will toll. The 74 bells of the Pukeahu carillon will sound across the memorial park for the first time since most people attending can remember. And a sound that belongs to the city will come back to it, if only for a morning, exactly when it is needed most.

Originally reported by RNZ.

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