Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Queen's Birthday Honours: Whitianga's David Wight awarded QSM for services to the community

By Alison Smith
Bay of Plenty Times·
2 Jun, 2019 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

David Wight has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the community. Photo / supplied

David Wight has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the community. Photo / supplied

Builder David Wight has contributed to Kuaotunu and Opito Bay since the early 1970s.

That contribution has been recognised in today's Queen's Birthday Honours, in which Wight has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the community.

Wight and his wife Christine bought a property in Opito in the northern Coromandel 47 years ago.

He led negotiations to get electricity to the tiny settlement in the 1970s, having brought their children Kim and Eric up "without many luxuries", using a generator and Tilley lamps to get by.

In 1976 he initiated the New Year's Day beach activities and fishing contest at Opito which continue to this day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He served on the Ratepayers' Association for two decades, negotiating contracts with the council for public toilets and a more efficient rubbish collection.

He would regularly clean out and deal with the rubbish and green waste himself, completing the task when he had a digger on the job site that was spare for a few hours.

"Blackjack Rd [from Kuaotunu to Otama] was just a tip for a long time, people would just tip rubbish over the side of the road. In 40 years there's more education, and your thoughts do change as you get older," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Wight built the Kuaotunu Store with Christine and their friends Dugald and Barbara Hoyland 42 years ago, effectively creating a village in the former gold town that had dwindled to a tiny population at the time.

Prior to that, he ran a delivery service to "folks over the hill" at the beaches of Opito and Otama, where up to 150 campers would pitch tents in the dunes.

He was the Search and Rescue co-ordinator in Opito Bay and helped with numerous emergencies.

When there was nowhere else available, his shed was sometimes even used as a temporary morgue.

Discover more

'A family thing': Why three young brothers volunteer their time for others

20 Jun 08:00 PM

Queen's Birthday Honours: Morris McFall receives QSM

31 May 05:00 PM

His fundraising efforts included helping to raise money for lifesaving equipment at the Coromandel beaches, which were hugely popular with visitors and bach owners in the summertime.

He said small communities sometimes got "breakaway" groups when controversy arrived, and it was a particular challenge living in a place where a large holiday and non-resident population descended each summer.

It was important, he said, to refrain from speaking your mind straight away. "When people are up in the air about something or somebody, I don't react straight away. I think you have got to think about the situation. If you are too rash, you can make a mistake yourself."

He has given 38 years of service to the Kuauotunu Volunteer Fire Brigade, including 34 as chief fire officer, and was among the volunteers locally who built the station themselves.

As a voluntary fire officer and chief, he said valuing volunteers was vital. "I ran the brigade according to two rules - everybody deserves a holiday once a year, and when you're a volunteer - your family always come first."

Wight said he had always enjoyed giving to his community, even when people did not seem to appreciate his behind-the-scenes work.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I suppose it boils down to the beauty of the [Coromandel] peninsula. It's a magical place. They can cart me out in a box from here.

"I think everybody would benefit if they could volunteer something. On last count, I think there were 54 volunteer organisations in Whitianga. I do think it just helps one become more tolerant, which a lot of us need."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times
|Updated

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Bay of Plenty Times

Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows

Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions
Bay of Plenty Times
|Updated

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Reinz report shows sales volumes below expected, more days to sell.

14 Jul 09:54 PM
Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows
Bay of Plenty Times

Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows

14 Jul 09:34 PM
$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'
Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'

14 Jul 07:38 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP