Twenty-five Cantabrians have received Queen's Birthday 2021 Honours.
Former MP Ruth Dyson was awarded the Queen's Service Order.
Dyson held several ministerial roles with previous Labour Governments and was MP for Lyttelton, Banks Peninsula and the Port Hills, but she has also worked in the disability sector for more than 30 years.
She was was the first Minister for Disability Issues in 1999. She advocated for reform of the disability support system, led work to promote inclusivity for disabled people in employment and education, and provided leadership through various changes to ACC legislation.
She also took part in driving the legislation, that when passed, recognised New Zealand Sign Language as an official language.
Yvette Couch-Lewis received an Order of Merit for her services to conservation and Maori.
Couch-Lewis is chairperson for the governance board of the Lyttleton/Whakaraupō Whaka Ora Healthy Harbour Catchment Management Plan, which was created in 2018 under her leadership.
The plan is a significant collaboration between Te Hapū o Ngati Wheke, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu with Tangata Tiaki, Environment Canterbury, the city council, and the Lyttelton Port Company. Its goal is to restore the ecological and cultural health of the harbour as mahinga kai (food gathering source) for future generations.
Alongside this major project, Couch-Lewis has worked with the Department of Conservation to recover New Zealand's orange-fronted parakeet, the Kākāriki, as well as the Hoiho, yellow-eyed penguins.
She has been a Ngāi Tahu representative on the Te Waihora Co-Governance Group since 2007. She has championed employment opportunities for hapū in conservation and a joint management approach between DOC and Ngāti Wheke for Ripapa and Otamahua/Quail Island.
In 2020, Couch-Lewis was appointed as one of the newly created ''Tumu Taiao" roles aimed at supporting better Council decision-making outcomes for mana whenua and for Environment Canterbury.
Stephen Phillips has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to seniors and the community. He was chief executive of Age Concern Canterbury from 2008 to 2012 and has been vice president of Age Concern New Zealand since 2020. He was a national board member from 2017 and a Canterbury board member from 2014.
He has empowered older people by establishing, promoting and supporting initiatives to improve the quality of services.
Since 2016, he has been an independent trustee of Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust, which manages a social housing portfolio of more than 2400 units. He has been deputy chairman of the Canterbury District Health Board consumer council and a trustee of Canterbury Health Care for Elderly Trust since 2017.
He has contributed to the development of city-wide policies to promote inclusive communities and ensured funding for organisations working with seniors.
Phillips was instrumental in setting up service desks after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake. He was convenor of all service desks in Canterbury from 2012 to 2016.
Phillips has been a Justice of the Peace since 1996. He has had multiple governance roles with the Canterbury Justices of the Peace Association (CJPA) including as president from 2011 to 2013 and a council member from 2006 to 2015. He has also been involved with the CPJA centennial 2018 committee.
Cancer survivor Diana Reid has received a Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for services to cancer support.
The 80-year-old is one of two residents in the district have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2021.
Reid helped to establish the Malvern Cancer Support Group in Darfield in 1983, after identifying the need for a local group. She is herself a bowel cancer survivor, having contracted the illness at the young age of 34.
Reid said she felt the medal was not just for herself, but that it was also for her late friend Janice Collier, who was a co-founder of the group.
"She died of cancer in 1999, that was devastating for me," Reid said.
Reid was the group's co-ordinator for many years. This role included providing transport to hospital for residents receiving treatment, supplying affected families with meals, offering cleaning and gardening services, and providing companionship and moral support.
Thirty-eight years later, she is still an active member of the group.
Reid has been involved with fundraising for the Cancer Society of New Zealand Canterbury – West Coast Division, including its signature Daffodil Day event and Relay for Life.
While she is regarded as a dedicated volunteer and inspiration to those facing a cancer diagnosis, she was humble about receiving the QSM.
"I feel very grateful, but there's so many people, it wasn't just me, it's always been a combined effort," she said.
Professor Angus Hikairo Macfarlane has been named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education, psychology and Māori.
Professor Angus Macfarlane has been a leading figure in cultural theory in education and psychology and an eminent researcher in the field of Mātauranga Māori, who has gained international recognition for the transferability of his theories.
Professor Macfarlane has developed bicultural approaches for teachers and psychologists to create safe and inclusive relationships with Māori students and clients, notably the Educultural Wheel, his most widely referred to framework for professional practice. His education theories have also proven to be effective for Pacific, disabled and gifted learners. He developed his first education theory in New Zealand, the Hikairo Rationale (now Hikairo Schema), a bicultural approach to positive behaviour, while head teacher of the Awhina special education school in 1980s and early 1990s.
He has contributed to national projects, such as Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour and Hui Whakatika, a Māori-developed restorative justice programme in schools. His bicultural research model He Ara Whiria has been widely used by Superu (The Families Commission), MSD, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and is the basis for research for E Tipu e Rea A Better Start National Science Challenge. Professor Macfarlane is Professor of Māori Research and was founding Director of Te Rū Rangahau (The Māori Research Laboratory) at University of Canterbury.
Hugh Jason Paul Canard has become an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation and paddle sports.
Hugh Canard was President of Whitewater New Zealand Incorporated from 1980 to 1990 and has been their Patron since 1992. Mr Canard is a member of the Canterbury Regional Water Committee and has contributed to policy forums such as the Land and Water Forum and the National Objectives Framework Reference Group.
For around 30 years he has provided guidance for many of the board members responsible for representing the interests of paddle sports, river recreation and river conservation throughout New Zealand. He has led hundreds of amateur kayaking and rafting trips for the Canterbury Whitewater Club. Over the past 40 years, he has been instrumental in securing Water Conservation Orders on the Kawarau, Buller, Grey, Rangitata and Mohaka rivers. With others, he purchased land alongside the Granity Rapid on the Buller River in order to retain public access.
He has been a member of the Tasman Environmental Trust, National Water Strategy Working Group, Adventure Tourism Council, and the Tekapo Whitewater Trust.
He has chaired the Nelson-Marlborough Conservation Board. He contributed to the establishment of the Sea Kayak Operators Association and developed certifications and codes of practice. Mr Canard is currently a board member of the Packrafting Association of New Zealand. AWARDS Whitewater New Zealand Canoeist of the Year, 1993 and 2010
Professor Emerita Paula Elizabeth Jameson has been named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to plant science
Professor Paula Jameson is a leading plant scientist working at the University of Canterbury. Professor Jameson’s work has been notable in combining internationally recognised research on the regulation of plant growth with leadership across the wider biological sciences.
She was Chair of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour Panel, a ministerial appointee to the Independent Biotechnology Council, and Principal Moderator for Tertiary Education Commission’s PBRF 2018. In 2004, she was appointed inaugural Head of the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) at the University of Canterbury.
Through her direct leadership and mentorship, SBS became one of New Zealand's highest ranked groupings of biologists. She has been noted for her research expertise in physiological and molecular plant biology, her extensive list of publications, and her support supervising postgraduate students. Her key contributions include elucidating the myriad roles that the plant hormone group, the cytokinins, play in plant development.
She has undertaken major collaborations with the applied sector in areas of forage, seed production and fruit development, as well as researching the regulation of flowering of New Zealand’s indigenous flora.
Her achievements have been recognised with life fellowships from the agricultural, horticultural, and plant biology communities. Professor Jameson received the 2019 Marsden Medal recognising a lifetime of outstanding service to the science profession.
Professor Harold John (John) Simpson has been named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art education
Professor John Simpson was head of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury (UC) for more than 30 years, driving a modernisation of the art education on offer.
Professor Simpson adopted the ideals of Bauhaus and introduced an ‘intermediate’ year during which students worked in all media, specialising in fields of their choice in subsequent years.
He introduced further specialisations into the School, including film, photography, and graphic design. Art History was established as a department of the School, offering courses for BA and BFA degrees and later at doctoral levels. He was Vice President of the Canterbury Society of Arts for nine years and was on the Society’s Council for 28 years. For six years he served on Board of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. He was chief examiner of both School Certificate and University Entrance Practical Art for almost eight years, introducing the Bauhaus option into the art history part of the curriculum.
He co-founded the Design Association of New Zealand and served on the Executive. He was a member of government appointed design committees for decimal coinage and bank notes, and the Advisory Council for the selection of New Zealand postage stamps. Professor Simpson gave works from his collection to Christchurch Gallery Te Puna o Waihetū in 2017.
Philip Spencer Trusttum has been named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art. Philip Trusttum is one of New Zealand's leading painters of large-scale impressionist works, working across a wide array of themes that remain embedded in everyday subjects.
Mr Trusttum is represented in the collections of all major public galleries in New Zealand. He has exhibited internationally in Sydney, Melbourne, Taiwan and New York. His work was included in The Real Art Roadshow in 2007, a mobile exhibition for secondary school students of original artworks by leading New Zealand artists. He was the first New Zealand artist to be reviewed in the New York Times and the second New Zealand recipient of the prestigious PollockKrasner Foundation Scholarship. In 2000 he was commissioned to paint ‘Passport to the New Millennium’, an 84 metre long piece for the Christchurch Convention Centre.
He has completed a number of other public commissions including stained glass windows, tapestries and murals. In 2010 and 2018 he made generous gifts to the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwheto, totalling 14 major paintings and a large drawing. He has donated paintings for fundraising to St Andrews College and Christchurch Hagley Tennis Club. Mr Trusttum is an honorary patron of Friends of the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Oxford Art Gallery.
Lynette Kaye (Lynn) Anderson has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the zoological industry and conservation.
Lynn Anderson has been Chief Executive of Orana Wildlife Park for 25 years. Ms Anderson brought the park from financial difficulty in the 1990s and turned it into a globally recognised zoo that makes significant contributions to conservation and offers educational experiences for visitors. Under her leadership, the Park has become one of Canterbury’s most iconic regional attractions as New Zealand’s only open range zoo. The zoo won the Champion Canterbury Business Award in 2006. She has held governance roles within the zoological industry, including as New Zealand Representative on the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) Board from 2005 to 2011. She has been a member of the ZAA New Zealand (formerly New Zealand Conservation Management Group (NZCMaG)) management committee for 21 years, serving periods as Chairperson and Treasurer. While chairperson of NZCMaG, she drove the merger between the Group and ZAA, which has benefitted conservation efforts by providing professional genetic management of zoo-based breeding programmes in New Zealand. She was an elected Board member of the Canterbury Employer’s Chamber of Commerce Board for seven years. Ms Anderson received the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia Professional Excellence Award in 2012, and the ZAA NZ Individual Award in 2008 for her contribution to conservation.
Mairehe Louise Marie Tankersley has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to prisoners' welfare and Māori.
Mairehe Louise Tankersley (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Irakēhu, Kāti Huikai, Kāi Tūtehuarewa) is currently Chair of Te Rūnaka ki Ōtautahi o Kāi Tahu Trust and has been committed to initiatives with a Kaupapa Māori foundation. Ms Tankersley has a long history of such initiatives with the Department of Corrections, particularly at Christchurch Women’s Prison where she has been a Kaiwhakamana and Lead Facilitator of the Tikanga Māori programme for 14 years. She is a social worker, Māori educator and Director of Jade Associates – Pounamu Kahuraki, a Māori consultancy providing cultural supervision and training to individuals and groups in education, social services and mental health. Her organisation is contracted to deliver Tikanga Māori programmes for men and women across Canterbury prisons and Community Corrections. Her programmes are always over-subscribed, and several women have participated multiple times because of the value they place on them. She provides a safe place for women who have experienced significant trauma and loss, and who are frequently disconnected from their culture, helping them connect with who they are and to change their lives to benefit them and their children. She has developed relationships transcending usual staff-prisoner boundaries and has continued to provide encouragement and support after release. Ms Tankersley is member of a multi-agency group established to deliver on the Department of Corrections Mana Wahine pathway.
Margaret Ann Dodds has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to special education
Mrs Margaret Dodds has been an active and dedicated member of Special Education New Zealand, having been Team Leader of Special Education in several high schools and Principal of Waitaha Special School from 2008 to 2018. As Principal of Waitaha, Mrs Dodds was jointly responsible with the Principal of Lemonwood Grove in establishing the new Lemonwood Grove full primary and Waitaha special education schools’ side-by-side. She played a key role in relocating Waitaha to a new purpose-built facility in Rolleston in 2018 with four satellite provisions across four other mainstream schools. She ensured her students had an everyday school experience, introducing new curriculum, school dances, camps and inter-school sports, and created an innovative sensory-motor therapy room designed to meet students’ sensory needs, enhance self-regulation and develop motor functions. She ensured that students’ best interests were the core of all decisions, and had an open-door policy for staff and whānau, ensuring they received the support, resources and information available to help their students achieve. After retiring in 2018, Mrs Dodds was called upon by the Ministry of Education on two occasions due to her leadership skills to cover primary school principal roles at short notice.
Siale Katoa Latu Pasa Faitotonu has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Pacific education.
Mr Siale Faitotonu has supported Pacific children and young people in education in Christchurch for more than 30 years, outside of his regular employment at the University of Canterbury (UC). Mr Faitotonu established Fe’ungamalie Language Nest at Rowley School in 1995, playing a key role in transitioning children and families of Fe’ungamalie to merge with Tongan Kaha’u Ola Early Childhood Centre in 2005, ensuring this centre could continue when facing difficulties. He was Licensee for Kaha’u Ola until 2009. He initiated a new pan-Pacific ECE to serve West Christchurch following earthquake displacement of Pasifika families, which opened in 2017. He established a Tongan language homework programme through Kahoa Tauleva Christchurch Trust in 2004. He facilitated resources including education students from UC and second-hand computers for the programme’s homework centres, helping establish a computer skills programme for students and parents. He translates education material into Tongan and developed resources for non-Pasifika teachers working in ECE nationally. As no Christchurch school could support NCEA Lea Faka-Tonga Levels 1 through 3, he established a programme for Tongan language students across 19 schools to be tutored through afterschool classes. Mr Faitotonu is involved with a Pacific Education Leadership course and the Minister of Education’s Pacific Advisory Board for Educational Renewal of Christchurch following the earthquakes.
David Alan Matthews has been named a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for services to people with disabilities.
Mr David Matthews spent 10 years in senior management roles with Special Education Services and the past 21 years with CCS Disability Action. Mr Matthews has been Chief Executive of CCS since 2011, maintaining the organisation’s positive reputation across the disability sector and increasing the fiscal position of CCS without reducing staff or services. Under his leadership, many innovative initiatives have taken place including in Northland the ‘Karanga Maha – Many Voices’ marae-based support programme for Māori disabled people, a work programme model now taken up by other CCS branches nationally. He oversaw the development of intensive wrap-around services for disabled children with complex needs across New Zealand. As CCS Regional Manager for South Island, he focused on the use of new technologies, access and advocacy. He has been a past Board member with the New Zealand Disability Support Network and involved with many other influential working groups including the 2016 New Zealand Disability Strategy Revision Reference Group, the Disability Systems Transformation and Enabling Good Lives projects. He supported CCS Canterbury to continue its work following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and deferred his retirement to 2021 to ensure continuity and leadership during the 2020 COVID-19 response. Mr Matthews has had an active involvement with the International Initiative for Disability Leadership.
Reverend Janice Ellen Stead, Parklands, New Zealand Order of Merit
Reverend Janice Ellen Stead has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sport and the community.
Reverend Janice Stead has been involved in cricket at all levels, as a player, commentator, selector, and administrator. Reverend Stead represented New Zealand in nine cricket tests between 1966 and 1972, touring Australia, South Africa, and England. Following her playing days she provided television and radio commentary, helping to promote women’s cricket to a wider community. She was on the Canterbury Women’s Cricket Executive and is a Life Member of the Canterbury Cricket Association. She was also involved in table tennis as a player, umpire, and administrator. She was on the Canterbury Table Tennis Committee for more than 25 years and made a Life Member of the Association in 2000. She played for the New Zealand Team in the Australian Veterans Championships from 1989 to 2000, and managed the team from 2001 to 2009. In 1989 she umpired for the World Deaf Table Tennis Games in Christchurch. Reverend Stead was a voluntary chaplain for the Windsor Care Retirement Village and Alpine View Life Care, retiring in 2019.
Miles Denis Ellery, Ilam, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Miles Denis Ellery has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to youth, education and the community.
Mr Miles Ellery has worked with at risk young people with psychological, behavioural, emotional and learning difficulties. Mr Ellery was Director of Edward Seager School at Sunnyside Hospital from 1979 to 1995, overseeing positive results from students able to be successfully reintegrated into regular high school, or into employment, after completing programmes at Edward Seagar. He has provided leadership to several professional bodies, including as Secretary at regional and national levels for New Zealand Association for Research in Education, New Zealand Psychological Society, and New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He was Chairman of Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) Shirley Cluster management committee for six years. He was Head of Guidance at Shirley Boys High School in Christchurch for 15 years. He initiated and had a significant leadership role in implementing the nationwide Lions Quest Life Skills education programmes for adolescents and their families. He was Secretary of Quest Skills for Adolescence Board from 1986 to 1994 and chaired the New Zealand and Pacific Lions Leadership and Development programme from 1990 to 1996. He has been a Lions District Governor, as well as Christchurch Host Lions Club past President and Secretary since 1990. Mr Ellery led several successful Lions fundraisers and has held roles with Scouts, YMCA and church youth groups.
Habib Ullah Marwat, Woolston, Queen's Service Medal
Habib Ullah Marwat has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to Muslim and ethnic communities.
Mr Habib Marwat has volunteered in Muslim and South East Asian communities in Canterbury and wider New Zealand for the past 12 years. Mr Marwat has held various roles with the Muslim Association of Canterbury, including time as President and Councillor with the Federation of Islamic Association of New Zealand. He has helped initiate and assisted with sports events for youth from ethnic communities. He has co-led organising an ethnic girl’s/women’s sports programme and worked on improving Canterbury Sunday Cricket to empower ethnic youth and bring multi-ethnic communities together through sports. He assisted in introducing affordable iftar programmes for the Canterbury Muslim community during Ramadan in Masjid Al Nur. He actively supports refugees settling in New Zealand. He is employed with the Department of Corrections and has facilitated close working relationships between governmental and non-governmental organisations amongst ethnic communities nationally. He was instrumental in organising numerous meetings for the Prime Minister and Ministers with the Muslim community and held a key role in organising hui with the community on the Royal Commission of Inquiry Report following the 15 March 2019 terror attack. He worked to connect victims of the terror attack with services and direct queries from families to appropriate forums. Mr Marwat is active in the interfaith space in bridging gaps between communities and faith-based groups.
Gary Irving Lang, Kaiapoi, Queen's Service Medal
Gary Irving Lang received a Queen's Service Medal for services to Special Olympics and the community.
Mr Gary Lang was a founding member and Treasurer of Southland Special Olympics in 1985, transferring to Eastern Southland Special Olympics as regional coordinator in 1990, then to North Canterbury Special Olympics Committee from 2000 to 2004. Mr Lang has held roles including Regional Coordinator, Treasurer, committee member, and coach for athletics, bocce and indoor bowls. He travelled to the United States as Assistant Team Manager at the 1995 World Summer Games Special Olympics in Connecticut and Team Manager for the 1999 World Summer Games Special Olympics In North Carolina. He is a Life Member of Eastern Southland Special Olympics. Over the 1970s and early 1980s he was involved with the Queen’s Park Round Table Invercargill, a swim coach with Murihiku Swim Club, Committee member and Treasurer of Newfield School PTA, and Treasurer of Newfield Methodist Church. He has been a Rotary Club member in Gore from 1991 and in Rangiora since 1999. He was involved with Gore Community Watch from 1991 to 1999. He has volunteered with Meals on Wheels Kaiapoi since 2007 and is past President of Waimakariri Combined Probus Club and the Waimakariri branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. Mr Lang has had varying involvement with North Canterbury Radio Trust, Kaiapoi RSA, and has served 37 years as a volunteer firefighter.
Margaret Agnes Chapman, Geraldine, Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Margaret Agnes Chapman has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rural women and rural communities.
Margaret Chapman was National President of Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) from 2007 to 2010, leading the organisation through a period of rapid growth and change. Mrs Chapman instigated the RWNZ Enterprising Rural Women’s Awards, now NZI Rural Women NZ Business Awards. She was National Councillor for the Canterbury region to RWNZ from 2001 to 2007. She was RWNZ Kakahu Branch President from 1993 to 1999 and South Canterbury Provincial President from 1998 to 2001 and again since 2010. She has chaired RWNZ Region 2 Area Committee since 2015, instigating several initiatives for or recognising rural women. She was a Trustee the Rural Communities Trust from 2007 to 2010 and of the New Zealand Landcare Trust. In these roles she advocated for ensuring rural access to social, health, welfare and education services. She has been Secretary of Geraldine Historical Society since 2013 and co-authored ‘Jessie Mackay – A Woman Before Her Time’ (1997), a historical study of a Kakahu poet. She has been Secretary/Treasurer of Kakahu Hall for 25 years. Mrs Chapman was a key driver of the Fairlie Mid-Winter seminars from 1998 to 2017, organised a national writing competition in 2011 to highlight women on the land, and instituted kid-friendly farm safety days within primary schools in 1996 in conjunction with ACC.
Francis William Helps, Akaroa, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Francis William Helps has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to wildlife conservation.
Mr Francis Helps and his wife Shireen have undertaken more than 40 years of conservation work to protect and enhance the biodiversity values of 32 hectares of their property at Pohatu Flea Bay, adjacent to the Pohatu Marine Reserve. Mr and Mrs Helps’ work has protected a significant population of kororā (blue penguins) and they have been involved with protection and monitoring of the few remaining hioho (yellow eyed penguin) on Banks Peninsula. Noting the declining populations of penguins from predation, through many years of trapping, making nest boxes, monitoring and rehabilitation the Helps have since stabilised the penguin colony at Pohatu. Pohatu now has 1,260 breeding pairs, the single largest little penguin population on mainland Aotearoa. A section of the Banks Walking Track is situated on their property, giving walkers an opportunity to view the penguins on guided tours as part of the Helps’ Pohatu Penguins business. Pohatu Penguins now offers penguin and nature tours, kayaking and accommodation, directly providing revenue to continue their conservation and education work. They educate tourists, school children and individuals about penguins, marine life, vegetation and lizards. The Helps have donated Red Beach Forest and Tutakakahikura scenic reserves to the Crown and have five covenants with QEII National Trust and Banks Peninsular Conservation Trust.
Shireen May Helps, Akaroa, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Shireen May Helps has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to wildlife conservation.
Mrs Shireen Helps and her husband Francis have undertaken more than 40 years of conservation work to protect and enhance the biodiversity values of 32 hectares of their property at Pohatu Flea Bay, adjacent to the Pohatu Marine Reserve. Mr and Mrs Helps’ work has protected a significant population of kororā (blue penguins) and they have been involved with protection and monitoring of the few remaining hioho (yellow eyed penguin) on Banks Peninsula. Noting the declining populations of penguins from predation, through many years of trapping, making nest boxes, monitoring and rehabilitation the Helps have since stabilised the penguin colony at Pohatu. Pohatu now has 1,260 breeding pairs, the single largest little penguin population on mainland Aotearoa. A section of the Banks Walking Track is situated on their property, giving walkers an opportunity to view the penguins on guided tours as part of the Helps’ Pohatu Penguins business. Pohatu Penguins now offers penguin and nature tours, kayaking and accommodation, directly providing revenue to continue their conservation and education work. They educate tourists, school children and individuals about penguins, marine life, vegetation and lizards. The Helps have donated Red Beach Forest and Tutakakahikura scenic reserves to the Crown and have five covenants with QEII National Trust and Banks Peninsular Conservation Trust.
Gina Solomon, Kaikoura, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Gina Solomon has been named as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation and governance.
Gina Solomon has applied a conservation and kaitiaki lens across a range of conservation governance appointments over two decades. Ms Solomon has been Ngāi Tahu representative on the Nelson Marlborough Conservation Board for 14 years and Chair since 2017. She has been the administrator, project manager and a foundation member of Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura for more than 10 years, which led the establishment of the Kaikoura marine protection legislation and the Kaikoura Marine Guardians. She was invited to facilitate a similar Te Korowai process for the Chatham Islands. She has been a ministerial appointee on the Nelson Marlborough Conservation Board, Kaikoura Marine Guardians, QEII National Trust Board, Nature Heritage Fund, Molesworth Steering Committee, and the Forestry Ministerial Advisory Group. She has been a member of the National Māori Network Collection Advisory Committee of the Environmental Risk Management Agency and the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust. She has been involved with the local St Paul’s restoration group, which has worked to re-establish an area of native forest in South Bay, Kaikoura. She has been on the Water Zone Committee for the Canterbury Water Management Strategy since establishment. Ms Solomon was actively involved with Takahanga Marae and on the Kaikoura Plains Recovery Project governance group following the 2016 earthquake.
Dr Alastair Hartley, JP, Kaiapoi, Queen's Service Medal
Dr Alastair Hartley received a Queen's Service Medal for services to dentistry and local government.
Dr Alastair Blackie has dedicated service to the Kaiapoi community and dentistry profession through dental treatment, mentoring for the dental profession, and local governance for more than 40 years. Dr Blackie was one of few dentists in the town of Kaiapoi for a number of decades. After the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, he supported patients and other medical practitioners, including through offering free dental treatment. He has served on local and district councils, working to improve and regenerate Kaiapoi following the earthquakes, including on the Kaiapoi Council from 1981 to 1990 with six years as Deputy Mayor. He continues to serve on the Waimakariri District Council where he has been a councillor since 2016 and led the Regeneration team restoring Kaiapoi. He has held leadership and support roles within the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Dental Association for nearly 30 years including as a consumer liaison officer for 14 years, member welfare officer, branch President, and Canterbury representative on the Association’s Board. He has volunteered with the Charity Hospital. Dr Blackie has been recognised with Honorary Life Membership of the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Dental Association and was nationally recognised as the inaugural winner of the Association’s Outstanding Colleague of the Year Award in 2015.
Suzanne Blakely, Redcliffs, Queen's Service Medal
Suzanne Blakely has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to refugees and ESOL education.
Mrs Suzanne Blakely has spent 30 years supporting refugee women as an English as a Second Language (ESOL) teacher. Mrs Blakely began teaching English to Cambodian women and children in 1990 when she was working at Mairehau Primary School in Christchurch. In 1992, this extended to families arriving from Somalia. She started a specialised and targeted ESOL programme for refugee women, and has continued to teach marginalised refugee parents, especially women, for 30 years. She has done this through a combination of paid and voluntary work, and has always supplemented class resources from her own pocket, spending thousands of hours not only making resources suitable for learners who are illiterate in their own language, but enabling them to travel to attend class, and source childcare. She regularly supports women to attend health and school appointments, learn how to drive and supermarket shop, and to find employment. In the aftermath of the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and the 2019 terror attacks, she spent days checking in with her learners, ensuring they were safe and had the practical help they needed. Mrs Blakely’s teaching methods, including working with pre-literacy as part of the teaching process, have been incorporated into mainstream ESOL teaching for refugees across New Zealand.
Ronal Arthur Luxton, JP, Temuka, Queen's Service Medal
Ronal Arthur Luxton has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to health and the community.
Ronal Luxton is a retired pharmacist and has served the South Canterbury district by leading fundraising appeals, holding governance roles in the education and health sectors, and volunteering with Lions Clubs International on a regional, national and international level. Mr Luxton has been a member of the Temuka Lions Club since 1974 and has held a number of leadership positions with the Lions Clubs, including as the elected director on the International Board for New Zealand, Australia, Islands of the Pacific and Indonesia from 1994 to 1996 with Lions Clubs International. He has received a number of awards for his service with the Lions Clubs. He was a member of the Temuka High School Board of Trustees (now Opihi College) for 18 years and served as its chair for a term. He led efforts to fundraise for an MRI scanner in South Canterbury that would remove the need to travel to Christchurch for MRIs and raised more than three million dollars for the equipment in 18 months. Mr Luxton is currently the Chair of the Aoraki MRI Charitable Trust and has been Chair of the South Canterbury District Health Board since 2017.
