OFFICER OF THE NEW ZEALAND ORDER OF MERIT
Wanaka
Services to aviation and conservation
Peter Garden says his New Year honour was a ‘‘very nice surprise’’.
Regarded as one of the world’s best eradication helicopter pilots, Mr Garden (70) has been involved with numerous predator eradication projects both in New Zealand and around the world. He was the chief pilot for the predator eradication programme on Campbell Island and the lead pilot during other habitat restoration projects on the Seychelles, the Aleutian Islands and a number of Pacific Islands.
From 2013 to 2015 he was the helicopter adviser and flight operations manager on the project to eradicate rats from South Georgia, in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
"It was such a different operation in terms of the size and complexity of it and we were able to do it over a five-year period because of the way the glaciers split the island up."
Working with dedicated and ingenious people around the world had been the highlight of his career, Mr Garden said.
Alongside his conservation and habitat restoration work, Mr Garden has held a range of positions in the New Zealand aviation industry, including chairman for both the helicopter division of the Aviation Industry Association of New Zealand and the steering committee of the New Zealand Helicopter Association. Mr Garden was an aviation adviser to New Zealand LandSAR and was a founding trustee of Southern Region Air Ambulance Trust.
At the same time, he found time to run his own company, Peter Garden Helicopters Ltd, which specialised in agricultural work in Southland and Otago.
Glenavy
Services to land and water management
Glenavy dairy farmer Robin Murphy was "absolutely" honoured to learn he was to become an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Mr Murphy (71) said he did not know who nominated him and he had a "very serious think" before responding to the letter informing him he was to be honoured this year.
"I was quite surprised, actually," he said.
"I don’t know where it came from — I do feel very humbled about accepting it."
Mr Murphy became involved with irrigation when he left school. He has been involved with the Morven Glenavy Ikawai Irrigation Scheme since 1986, but he said his achievements — especially his work for the environment — came through "tremendous community support".
While irrigation had been a "big part" of his life, it was always accompanied with the thought, "How can we help the environment?"
Mr Murphy was the Canterbury Water Management Strategy’s Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Zone Committee chairman for five years and oversaw the restoration of the water quality, biodiversity and cultural values of Wainono Lagoon.
His environmental work includes protecting the Waihao River and Waikakahi stream.
He was a founding director of Waitaki Irrigators Collective, a limited liability company representing about 600 irrigated farms over 75,000ha across North Otago and South Canterbury, which now serves as a model for integrated irrigation and policy development for wider New Zealand.
Chairman of the Morven Glenavy Ikawai Irrigation Scheme since 1993, Mr Murphy championed and oversaw several projects that improved the viability and reach of the scheme, including the recent commissioning of the $32 million Waihao Downs project. The scheme covers 28,500ha.
Gore
Services to the beef industry
When Laurie Paterson received an official-looking envelope in the post he left it unopened for a few days, fearing it was a speed camera fine.
Instead, it contained acknowledgement of his contribution to the beef industry, which came as a surprise to the Greenvale farmer.
"You just do what you have to do. Things that require doing, just go and do them," Mr Paterson (66) said. He saw the honour as being "for a lot of people".
Mr Paterson was a director of the New Zealand Hereford Association from 1991 to 2010, including serving as president. He is one of only six breeders to have been awarded Fellowship of the Hereford Breed.
In the 1980s, he recognised the value of the BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation software, which calculated estimated breeding values, and was involved in introducing it to Hereford breeders.
That eventually led to its use for other breeds and the combining of New Zealand data with Australian for transtasman genetic evaluations.He has been a director of Hereford Prime since its inception in 1992 and chairman since 2000.His time spent off-farm would not have been possible without his wife Sharon, who was a capable manager in his absence, he said.
An ongoing highlight was the next generation — son Ross and daughter-in-law Steph — taking over.
Queenstown
Services to local government
When Vanessa van Uden was elected Queenstown Lakes District mayor in 2010, she made history.
Ms van Uden, originally from Southland, had served one term as a councillor when she sought out the mayoralty, and became the first woman to don the mayoral chains for the district.
During her six years as mayor Ms van Uden oversaw the signing of the Queenstown Lakes Housing Accord, implemented to create more homes in the region, and worked hard to ensure the incoming council encountered a "really healthy financial situation".
She stood down from local body politics in this year’s elections.
Ms van Uden said she became aware her New Year honour was in the pipeline in September, but it was confirmed only about a fortnight ago.‘‘Honestly ... I had a little tear, I was blown away.
"I completely did not expect that — I was just opening a letter thinking ... it was an update on something."
Ms van Uden said being recognised for her contribution to the community during her time as mayor was "absolutely lovely" and she had taken heart from leaving the council in a better situation than she found it in, which would help the new council under Mayor Jim Boult to meet the needs of the district.
One of her highlights, however, had been trying to make life a little bit easier for the community at large.
"I tried to help people out and we tried to get things done."
Her previous work in the community included involvement with the Wakatipu High School Board of Trustees, the Queenstown Trails Trust, the St John area committee and the Branches Trust.
MEMBER OF THE NEW ZEALAND ORDER OF MERIT
Dunedin
Services to sport, particularly athletics
Raylene Isabel Bates has been involved in sports since the age of 6 and has achieved more than most. The current Athletics New Zealand Paralympics high performance manager, Ms Bates (51) led the team that won seven medals in Rio in 2016. Despite the success, the New Year honour came as a surprise.
"I was very excited; well, actually, stunned. It was absolutely not something I expected."
It was hard to pick out a highlight, although she was proud of building up the Paralympic programme.
"I’ve gone through from being an athlete to being an administrator and a coach and every piece of it has been an amazing experience shared with a lot of friends and family. It’s probably why I’m still involved now."
Ms Bates has had a prolific career as a sports coach, manager and administrator. She began at the Taieri Athletics Club and says she has held almost every role there is to hold at different times since she was a teenager. In 1998 she became the executive secretary of the Otago Rugby Football Union, before moving into the New Zealand Academy of Sport in 2000. She was team leader for New Zealand athletics at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and has led the athletics team to the past three Paralympic Games. She is the vice-president of Athletics Otago and is on several other boards.
She said she was committed to her coaching role with Para-Athletics through to the Tokyo Paralympics and was hopeful she could continue building the programme.
Invercargill
Services to education
While Aurora College principal Robyn Hickman is grateful to receive an MNZM for services to education, she feels the real reward has been seeing pupils go through the programmes she has established and come out the other side in a better state.
"I feel humbled about the award because I feel that I’m getting it just for doing my job.
"It’s all about people who are able helping people who are perhaps less able. It’s about giving service to the community and helping the community grow."
Mrs Hickman (65) has been in education for the past 37 years and has been Aurora College principal since 2008.
She established the first free Study Support Centre in Otago/Southland in 2000 and set up a holiday programme to cater for families who could not afford to send their children to more expensive holiday programmes.
She has assisted the development of links@aurora, which provides support to pupils and their families at the college, and has been referred to nationally as "a model in exemplar practice".
She also successfully led the early adoption of the Positive Behaviour for Learning programme in her school, which helps pupils to be respectful, responsible and safe.
She established the bilingual unit at Aurora College in 2009 and has been involved in implementing the Ministry of Education’s projects He Kakano and Kia Eke Panuku: Building on Success to foster culturally responsive and relational pedagogy.
She has been lead principal for the Southland Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour Cluster since Aurora College became lead school in 2012.
Mrs Hickman has also been involved with a number of major community developments focused on the urban rejuvenation of South Invercargill.
Queenstown
Services to the community, disability sport and health
Queenstown’s Tony Hill was in the middle of campaigning for a seat on the Queenstown Lakes District Council when he found out about his New Year honour.
The property and project manager said that on September 19, his wedding anniversary, he and wife Vickie were on the way to Glenorchy to speak to the community when he checked the mail.
"I opened the envelope and, funny enough, I said to Vickie ‘it looks like another questionnaire’ ..."
He said that when he realised what it was, it was "mind-blowing".
"It’s very humbling."
A member of the Institute of Directors, Mr Hill has held various board directorships with interests in education, health and tourism in the Wakatipu.
In 1991 he co-founded the Lakes District Air Rescue Trust, established to provide world-class air rescue and retrieval operations in and around the district, and was a trustee and secretary/manager until 2015.
In 2000 he joined the Halberg Disability Sports Foundation as a member of the Otago/Southland trustee group and became the director of the grants committee. He was on the executive board for nine years and in 2016 became a life trustee.
He was also a co-founding board member of the Queenstown Resort College, chairman of Queenstown Lakes District Council subsidiary Lakes Environmental and the Wakatipu Primary Health Organisation, and a trustee of the Southern Primary Health Organisation.In October he was elected to the council, representing the Wakatipu ward.
Locally, Mr Hill said he was most proud of the growth of the air rescue trust, which had flown "under the radar" for many years and had become a "fantastic service" that operated 24/7 in and around the district.
Nationally, he said he had gained huge satisfaction from helping young children with disabilities through the Halberg Disability Sports Foundation.
Dunedin
Services to rugby and community
Des Smith hopes his New Year honour is recognition not just for him but also for all those hardworking people in rugby right around the province.Smith (72) has been a passionate supporter of rugby and the wider community all his life and said the honour was a tad overwhelming.
"I feel I’m just a part of the big rugby volunteer group in Otago and hopefully they’ll get a bit of a kick out of this honour like I have," he said.
Mr Smith taught and coached rugby at Otago Boys’ High School from 1968-94, including coaching the First XV, which was the top school side in the South Island four times, for 10 years and managing the New Zealand Schools team.
He coached tennis at the school for 12 years, culminating in winning the Dunedin men’s premier championship. On leaving teaching in 1994 he was employed in various roles, including setting up the Edgar Centre and managing the New Zealand Colts, Highlanders and Otago rugby teams. He was appointed president of the Otago Rugby Football Union in 2016.
In November he was also made life member of the Kaikorai Rugby Football Club, which he has been involved with for 67 years.
Smith was the Otago secondary schools regional sports director from 2006-12 and oversaw significant growth in sports participation in the region, before becoming the operations manager for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council.
In 2011 he was awarded the SportNZ award for innovation in establishing sports councils in secondary schools. Away from sport, Mr Smith has been involved with many community projects, including the Blueskin Bay library, the Wakari School pool, the Otago Rugby gym, the Te Rauone Beach breakwater and planning for the redevelopment of Logan Park.
He paid tribute to his wife, Raylene; his three children, Michael, Chris and Nicky; and his 10 grandchildren.
QUEEN’S SERVICE MEDAL
Tapanui
Services as ambulance officer
The family of St John volunteer Janet Affleck understand the demands of being on call.
In fact, her sons even followed in her footsteps.
"They both volunteer for the Fire Service and one is also involved with the ambulance."
Mrs Affleck joined West Otago St John as a volunteer ambulance officer in 1990.
She was operations manager from 1996 to 2005, during which time she developed a strong team of volunteers.
From 2005 to 2014, she also held the role of area committee secretary.
Her family’s support was essential for being in the service so long, she said.
The role often required her to be on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day to ensure the service remained available to the community.
Becoming a volunteer was always in the back of her mind before joining, she said.
"As a kid, I made use of the ambulance with a car accident."
It was a "very rewarding job" because the people being helped were often in strife, she said.
The medal came as "quite a shock".
"It’s a great honour to be rewarded in that way. It’s certainly something you don’t set out to achieve."
As a volunteer, she has often been on the sidelines of local rugby, netball and hockey games.
Mrs Affleck remains a committee member and active ambulance officer.
She is also a life member of the West Otago Vintage Club for which she choreographs the "tractor dancing" group which performs at local events.
Oamaru
Services to music
Neville Cowles’ dedication to music is peerless in North Otago.
Mr Cowles (76) has, for a total of 57 years, played the cornet, trumpet and military bugle in both the Oamaru Garrison Band and the Timaru Municipal Band.
The Oamaru man is a familiar face to any who have attended RSA Anzac Day ceremonies, or funerals, across North Otago or South Canterbury where he has played the Last Post and Reveille for a stretch of 54 years.
Mr Cowles held several roles with the Oamaru Garrison Band including chairman, band sergeant and brass tutor. Every Sunday, for the past 10 years, he has played solo cornet with the Oamaru Salvation Army Band.
He represented New Zealand in Otatu, Japan, where he played with the City of Dunedin Brass Band in 1984.
He played in the Chingay Processional at the Singapore Independence Celebrations in 1994 with the Timaru Municipal Band. He has played in the orchestra of the Oamaru Operatic Society for 29 shows between 1966 and 2015, played in the Oamaru Savage Club orchestra for 50 years, and has sung in the Savage Club’s Men’s Choir. Mr Cowles has been a trumpet soloist at the Oamaru Music Group’s classical concerts from 1967 to 2010.
Former secretary of the Oamaru Garrison Band and former Waitaki Boys’ High School bandmate Walter Alding said Mr Cowles was serious about his music and the honour was warranted.
"He is really deserving."
Oamaru Garrison Band manager Ray Walker, of Oamaru, called Mr Cowles "obviously a stalwart of the band".
Dunedin
Services to the community
Ngaire Duke can recall the moment she first discovered her passion for community service.
"I was about 8 or 9 years old, and we found out that a boy in our area had been born blind.
"So I set up a stall at our front gate and sold things to raise money for the Blind Foundation. I think that’s where it all started for me."
Mrs Duke (67) retired from the Dunedin Citizens Advice Bureau in February 2016, after 22 years as the community organisation’s manager.
During that time, she was instrumental in establishing bureau clinics in Waikouaiti and Mosgiel, and overseeing the growth of the Citizens Advice Bureau into a centrepiece of Dunedin Community House with 50 volunteers.
She was a linchpin member of the group which advised on setting up Community House at its present location in Moray Pl.
During this time, Mrs Duke regularly spoke to inmates at Otago Corrections Facility on bureau services to help them move forward with their lives.
She was also an active member of the Dunedin Budget Advisory Service for 26 years, including time as chief advisory officer; she has held a range of roles with the National Council of Women (Dunedin Branch), in which she was a member of the executive committee and a branch representative on the Consumer Affairs national standing committee for a number of years.
Mrs Duke has been a member of the Dunedin Council of Social Services and a community member of the Department of Social Welfare executive committee and welfare review board.
In her spare time, Mrs Duke was also a member of the Melrose Singers ensemble for more than 20 years.
Dunedin
Services to the New Zealand disability community
Rosemary Scully says she does not know who nominated her for a Queen’s Service Medal but she is delighted to have received one.
The medal is the latest accolade for the intellectual disabilities researcher and advocate.
Ms Scully, who has an intellectual disability, is a life member of People First, a self-advocacy organisation run by and for people with intellectual disabilities.
She had also been involved with IHC at both local and national levels.
Advocating for the rights of people with disabilities was something she saw as a privilege, she said.
"I just like helping people.
"I don’t do it for the glory, or the money, I just do it to help people because I like to."
She was particularly proud of her involvement in the establishment of a women’s group for women with disabilities.
She had also addressed the needs of disabled women as co-researcher on the project "Identifying and addressing general life concerns of women with intellectual disabilities" conducted by the Donald Beasley Institute.
Equally important to promoting the rights of women was ensuring people had equal rights to work, she said.
She had sat on the Workbridge Council for many years to ensure more people knew about their rights, she said.
While the New Zealand disability community was stronger now, it still faced challenges.
She hoped her medal would inspire others from the community to take on leadership roles.
"I hope it encourages all people with disabilities to follow their dreams and realise there is no such word as can’t."
Dunedin
Services to netball
Doreen Tucker has been involved in netball since the 1940s and has been one of the sport’s most prominent figures in the region ever since.
Ms Tucker (85) has a prolific CV spanning seven decades, but was very surprised upon learning she had been awarded her honour.
"Not that I consider I deserve it, but I’ll take it for everyone else that helped," she said.
She played as a goal keep in first grade for the Albion club until 1965 and played in social grades from 1975 to 1987. Between 1947 and 2001, she had been a committee member, secretary, treasurer and president at the club. She was a committee member of the Otago Netball Umpires Association and was responsible for allocating umpires to games, continuing in that role with the Otago Netball Union. She was a member of the Otago Netball Union Management Committee, was the control office manager every Saturday of the season between 1999 and 2015 and was a committee member of the Dunedin Netball Centre from 2001 to 2012.
The control office has since been named after her.
She had no specific reason for going the extra mile, other than it was something she enjoyed being involved in, saying she liked netball and liked helping people.
While it was hard to pick out a highlight, she said the day Albion won the Caltex Cup in 1998, the then-national club championships, was exciting.
Oamaru
Services to irrigation and the community
One of the key proponents who helped bring water in a sustained way to cover 20,000 hectares for downlands farmers in North Otago, a drought-prone region, has been awarded the honour for his efforts.
Oamaru’s John Webster felt humbled after being named a recipient of the Queen’s Service Medal for his leadership on the committee that carried out investigation and planning over a 15-year period in order to create the North Otago Irrigation Company scheme. He said the award was not recognition of his services as an individual but marked the hours of work by others involved in the scheme, including his family.
"We just worked away over a long period of years ... it was pretty hard work."
What the company did was create a reliable piped flow of water from the nearby Waitaki River into a pressurised irrigation system which began operating in 2006.
He said irrigation had changed North Otago and the scheme played a major role in how people now lived their lives.
"It was very much a defensive existence rather than a developmental existence."
He said irrigation was a major player in bringing life into the community and that could be seen in a demographic change that resulted in young families moving to the area and young business people making their mark in North Otago.
Mr Webster is still involved in a number of activities and groups, including the Waitaki Irrigators Collective and the Kurow Duntroon Irrigation Company.
Mr Webster has had a long involvement with Young Farmers organisations and the annual contest, including acting as a judge for Young Farmer of the Year.
