The King’s Birthday Honours announced today include seven Hawke’s Bay people.
They are headed by officers of the Order of New Zealand (ONZM), John Daniel O’Sullivan, of Havelock North, for services to business and education; and Napier women Gail Patricia Spence, for services to language education; and Jennifer Mary Wake, for services to theatre and television.
Elizabeth Helen Graham, of Pukehou, is made a member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM), for for services to Māori and education.
Awarded the King’s Service Medal (KSM) are Dr Christopher Evan Longhurst, of Napier, for services to survivors of abuse in care; Nicola Linda Hickey (Nicky Rawlings), of Dartmoor, for services to Victim Support; and Berry Jane Rangi, of Napier, for services to the community, particularly Pacific people.
Dr Christopher Longhurst KSM, Napier
Dr Longhurst lectures at Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College, and splits his time between Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.
He suffered abuse while growing up in Catholic schools in Napier and Hastings, and further abuse abroad as a young man.
He spent 16 years as a professor in the Vatican’s museum complex, where the Sistine Chapel and the papal art gallery “were my classrooms”.
He established the New Zealand chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in 2019, and says: “When you support other people, you heal yourself, you make yourself stronger, more resilient and a more genuine person.”
John O’Sullivan ONZM, Havelock North
O’Sullivan is the driving force behind family-owned Tumu Group, with over 600 staff, and has led numerous community-focused initiatives across Hawke’s Bay.
Through Tumu charitable arm Evergreen Foundation, he helped raise over $3.6 million for Cyclone Gabrielle recovery. Projects have also included funding mental health programmes and helping rehabilitate prisoners through employment.
Currently facing a terminal brain tumour, O’Sullivan says family support is essential and there are plans to continue his philanthropic work.
“The journey of life is not a straight line,” he says. “You have to adjust to the circumstances and make the most of that journey.”
Liz Graham MNZM, Hastings
Liz Graham is the kitchen hand who became the chairperson on the board.
But it goes much further than that: her career at Māori boys’ school Te Aute College includes 24 years as a teacher. Her son was one of her lecturers when she did a Bachelor of Education in her late 40s. When she was on the board, she became its first female chair in a history dating back over 150 years.
She also chaired work on Treaty claims, and became chair of the Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust as it worked to what she regards as a good settlement.
Those were the highlights, she said, remarking “someone” did a lot of work preparing the nomination.
Nicola Hickey KSM, Napier
Nicky Rawlings, the name she prefers, has been a Victim Support volunteer since 1989.
Her inspiration to volunteer in crisis intervention and provide follow-up support came from her own life and the need to have people to “offload to”.
“It’s all about the people, and it’s never what you expect it to be,” she says. “What you see on the outside certainly isn’t what you see on the inside.”
She supported RSE workers in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Gail Spence ONZM, Napier
Spence’s love for languages started when she was 12, learning French, saying it “opened her world”.
She has worked in language education for over 40 years, with roles as the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers president, and the inaugural curriculum facilitator of languages at the Ministry of Education from 2001 to 2007, overseeing languages added as a new learning area in the New Zealand curriculum.
From 2007 to 2022 she worked with NZQA, publishing companies and education providers on more than 60 contracts to support learning languages for international languages, te reo Māori and Pacific languages, and resources for developing NCEA pathways for te reo Māori and the five most spoken Pacific languages in New Zealand.
Jenny Wake ONZM, Napier
Starting her career off with a Master’s Degree in Children’s Theatre from Humboldt State University in California, Wake’s initial plan was to become a high school drama teacher.
But she was offered work on children’s TV show Play School, and went on to roles on What Now and Bumble.
In the late 1980s she worked at Downstage in Wellington as education officer, directing plays and running classes, and in 1991 founded Calico Young People’s Theatre.
She has supported people working in children’s theatre in New Zealand through the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People since 1996 and was the national coordinator of Performing Arts and Young People of Aotearoa from 2016 to 2020.
She has also produced hands-on learning experiences for the Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery (MTG).
Berry Rangi KSM, Napier
Aged 82, Berry Rangi has dedicated her life to supporting Pacific women by creating a safe and caring community within Hawke’s Bay.
Her list of achievements includes co-founding Tiare Ahuriri in 2008, the Napier branch of the national Pacific women’s organisation Pacifica Inc.
“It was for us to look after each other and encourage each other,” she says.
Her work as the Pacific Breast and Cervical Screening Health Promoter was instrumental in lifting coverage rates of breast and cervical screening for Hawke’s Bay Pacific women.
She did the work because she knew she could and, most importantly, wanted to.