Allan Hall: Family man, lawyer, coroner and advocate for the disabled.
OBITUARY - Allan Hall
Family man, lawyer, coroner, Holy Trinity Church stalwart, local body politician and advocate for the disabled – Allan Hall was a bleeding-heart liberal in the best sense of the term.
He died in Wellington this month at the age of 83, with daughters Veronica and Rosemary at his side.
Allan moved from Gisborne to Wellington this year to be closer to family as he became more frail.
Gisborne born and bred, he attended Mangapapa, Gisborne Intermediate, Gisborne High and Gisborne Boys’ High schools, obtained a law degree at Wellington’s Victoria University and in 1968 returned to Gisborne.
He was a partner in Burnard Bull and Co, specialising in family and property law, and was involved in Māori land law from the 1970s.
For 20 years, he was the Gisborne coroner. He was well regarded for his empathetic, respectful and thoughtful approach, as he tried to make the process as easy as possible for bereaved families. He was especially aware of the needs of Māori.
Allan was a Gisborne city and district councillor, president of the Disabled Persons’ Assembly and was active with CCS Disability Action.
As a councillor, his common sense and concern for social justice marked him as a voice of reason when tensions heightened.
That social concern had deep roots.
In Wellington, he was active in The Catacombs, a St Peter’s Anglican Church initiative that helped inner-city dwellers. He organised discussion forums on issues such as the “no-Maoris, no-tour” campaign over the 1960 rugby tour of South Africa, and was active in protests against the Vietnam War.
The Weir House room he shared with Gary Finlay and Steve Crosby became a centre for coffee and discussion, and the Gisborne trio helped keep some of the high-flyers’ feet on the ground.
Fresh from Nelson College and rooming across the hall was future Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer.
“We put him right about lots of things,” Allan recalled decades afterwards.
Gisborne-born St Peter’s vicar Allan Pyatt, later Bishop of Christchurch, was an influence. His social concern, combined with Christian action, left an impression.
But Allan’s roots for social concern went back even further.
His grandfather, John Hall, grew up in Bradford, Yorkshire, and went down the coal mines when he was 10. He joined the Independent Labour Party and was influenced by socialist writers such as George Bernard Shaw.
John’s work-related health problems prompted a doctor to advise him to take a long sea voyage, so he came to New Zealand, where he made his way to Gisborne and set up a painting and decorating business.
John Hall went on to become a councillor and deputy mayor of Gisborne.
Allan Hall’s interest in disability issues went back to birth and led to his representing Tairāwhiti on national disability action committees.
He was born prematurely, with the umbilical cord around his neck. It left him with congenital spasticity and cataracts.
Little things stood out from his early years: his father, Ralph, making a lectern with king-sized letters to help him learn to read; the discomfort of 13-hour train journeys to Wellington in stifling summer heat with windows shut or in billowing smoke with windows open; the three-hour improvement when railcars took over the run; and the comparative luxury of a quick jaunt in a DC-3 aircraft.
The Wellington trips were to see Gisborne-born ophthalmic surgeon Walter Hope-Robertson, who removed a cataract from 5-year-old Allan’s right eye.
“In those days, they took out only one cataract if you were young because they thought you were likely to get a detached retina later in life,” he recalled.
“The other cataract was thought to be a spare.”
But over time, that cataract caused the eye to atrophy through lack of use and, at a six-monthly check-up, an eye specialist told him the retina had detached.
“My spare ... whoops,” Allan said.
None of his disabilities affected his ability to practise law or take part in any activities he chose. He loved walking, sea swimming and picnicking.
He was an active member of Holy Trinity Church for decades and took on many different roles.
He joined the Rotary Club of Gisborne in 1981, was president in the 1998-99 year and attended meetings until only a few months before he moved to Wellington.
He was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 2008 and, near the end of his life, the Rotary Club of Gisborne presented him with a Paul Harris sapphire pin in recognition of his continued contribution to the Rotary ideals of international peace and goodwill.
Allan stressed that anything he achieved was with the help of his wife, Pamela.
They got to know each other at St Peter’s when they volunteered in social service and community activities, and were married for 52 years.
Much of Allan’s social justice work was done alongside Pamela. They were a team, and he cared for her with love and compassion in her last years. Pamela Hall (nee Cocks) died in January 2021.
They are survived by their daughters Veronica and Rosemary, and grandchildren Hazel, Lars, Otto, Piper, Arana and Tierney.