About 160 past and present members of the navy are gathering in Dunedin this week for the 85th anniversary of HMNZS Toroa.

The reunion will start tomorrow and include a parade from the Dunedin Railway Station to HMNZSToroa in St Andrew St from 11am on Saturday.

Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) assistant chief capability Commodore John Martin, who was born in Dunedin, has been invited to attend the reunion as the guest speaker.

HMNZS Toroa was founded in 1928 and during World War 2 its members were drafted into the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy, and then in 1941 the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Members assisted firefighters and other emergency services when the old Arthur Barnett store was devastated by fire in 1959, and in 1990 HMNZSToroa members also took part in the response to the Aramoana massacre by manning an inshore patrol vessel to seal off the harbour entrance to all shipping.

Toroa is the Maori name for the royal albatross and the ship’s badge depicts the bird, of which there is a colony on Taiaroa Head at the entrance to Otago Harbour.

- rosie.manins@odt.co.nz