Otago Gunners Group member Robbie Gardiner said members of the group would be starting the day at 5.30am with rum coffee before heading to the dawn service at the Queens Gardens Cenotaph to fire a salute about 6.30am. Salutes in Mosgiel about 10am and the University of Otago about 1.30pm would follow.
The gunners group packed their own rounds for their 25-pounder field gun, using a shotgun shell as a primer.
"Back in the good old days, we were firing one-pound charges, but what we found is that we did break a few windows."
Now they were firing half-pound charges which still had a good bang — but were cheaper, which was convenient given the rising cost of black powder.
The 25-pounder they were using was likely built in 1942 and held in reserve in New Zealand.
It had been sitting on display at a South Dunedin combined services club, but when the premises were sold it was offered to the group so they could fire blanks.
"A group of us got ... together and de-wielded everything the army had done."
The gun had been functional for about the past six years.
The group had about 12 regular attendees and another 10 less-involved members.
All those involved in the commemoration firings were former members of the 3rd Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery, which was a territorial unit comprised of forces in the South Island.
"When we were in the territorials we were the guys that fired the guns for Anzac Day and all the rest of it, so once they took all the guns off us we basically just carried on that tradition."
In days gone by, there had been a six-gun territorial unit based in Dunedin called 31 (B) Battery, part of the 3rd Field Regiment. It used the 25-pounders until 1978, but by the time Mr Gardiner joined them they were using 105mm howitzers.
The 3rd Field Regiment was disbanded in 1990.
This year would have marked the 160-year anniversary of Dunedin’s B battery, which was formed as the Dunedin Volunteer Artillery Regiment in July 1863.
