Lyndon Smith's bronze statue of a family group is the focal point for the complex, which in 2018, after refurbishment, was said to have 60,000 visitors per year.

[6] Various dignitaries gave speeches, Governor-General Lord Bledisloe switched on the Lamp of Remembrance on top of the tower, and then the carillon played the national anthem and several hymns, accompanied by the singing of the crowd.

Retired Army Colonel Andrew Renton-Green, who chairs the National War Memorial Advisory Council and the coordinating committee behind the tomb project, explained why it took so long:[14] The history goes back to the time (William) Gummer designed the National War Memorial, which was completed – not in its present form – in 1932.

As part of that design Gummer actually made provision for a tomb, but all building other than the carillon tower was abandoned because of the economic situation at the time – the Depression.

There are not many people in New Zealand who can afford to pay their respects to one of their family by going to Westminster Abbey, where the Commonwealth tomb was put in the ground in 1923.

It’s not about dead people at all, it’s about living people.In 2011, structural engineers Dunning Thornton completed a partial seismic assessment of the carillon tower.

A full assessment was not completed because the Ministry for Culture and Heritage wanted the tower to be refurbished in time for the 100-year commemoration of Anzac Day in 2015.

[18] Work on the carillon included installation of new seismic bracing and walls in the clavier room, new floors, ladders and safety nets, repairing and repainting various areas, re-plastering the outside of the 51 m high tower, and moving storm water and electrical infrastructure.

[23] Although Dunning Thornton's full assessment was not completed until April 2020,[16][15] the Ministry for Culture and Heritage closed the carillon on 20 February 2020.

[24] A peer review of Dunning Thornton's 2020 report was carried out by Holmes Consulting, who made further recommendations about the likely performance of the building during an earthquake.

[25][26] In December 2021 the Ministry for Culture and Heritage announced that it hoped to have strengthening completed by May 2027, in a project with six steps at an estimated cost of $7.2 million.

The media noted that this event took place only a few hours before a large earthquake shook Wellington and queried the decision to hold the ceremony inside the building.

[30] The upper part of the campanile was replastered with sand that matched the original stone, and the metal louvres, window frames, and grilles were replaced.

These alcoves are designed as small side chapels dedicated to the different branches of the New Zealand Armed Forces that have served in overseas conflicts.

[citation needed] The entrance to the Sanctuary is flanked on either side by two white stone columns, each surmounted with a bronze orb and cross and engraved with the coats of arms of members of the Commonwealth whose forces served in World Wars I and II.

[31] On each of the two side walls of the Sanctuary a large cross forms the background for the coats of arms of the main towns of the nine provinces of New Zealand.

[13][32] Four Rolls of Honour, inscribed with the name and rank of each fallen New Zealander, are placed in bronze display cases on the east and west walls of the Sanctuary.

[37] Since the opening of the National War Memorial Carillon in 1932 there have only been four official carillonists: Gladys Watkins, John Randal, Selwyn Baker, and Timothy Hurd.

[38] The carillonist sits at a clavier or keyboard and uses his or her hands and feet to strike wooden keys and pedals which are each connected by a wire to a clapper inside a bell.

[6]: 46  For seven years after Gladys Watkins retired in 1936, there was no carillonist: instead, an electric machine played the bells automatically, using a perforated paper roll like those used in a pianola.

[39] The remains were chosen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, near where the New Zealand Division fought in 1916.

[citation needed] As the soldier's name, rank, regiment, race, religion and other details are unknown, he represents and honours all New Zealanders who became lost to their families in war.

[39] On Monday 1 November a New Zealand delegation departed for France to begin the process of repatriating the remains of the Unknown Warrior.

More than 100,000 people lined the streets[42] to the National War Memorial where an interment ceremony with full military honours took place.

It is based on the photograph of Henderson taken at Gallipoli by James Gardiner Jackson on 12 May 1915, and is a "tribute to all medical personnel, stretcher bearers and ambulance drivers who served alongside New Zealand troops in wartime".

Commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association with sponsorship from Oceanic Life,[45] it was unveiled by Henderson's son Ross on 20 April 1990.