Whangārei war veteran and kaumātua Richard Shepherd awarded Queen's Service Medal in 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours

Kaumātua Richard Shepherd was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for his services to Māori and the community. Photo / File

Richard Shepherd questioned whether he was worthy when he was told he had been awarded a Queen's Service Medal.

But the 81-year-old kaumātua is being humble, there is a list of community work he has been involved with over many years.

"I'm not quite sure whether I thought I was worthy of that really. You get that feeling really of 'what have I done to be worthy of something like this?' so those sort of things went through my mind," Shepherd said.

Shepherd was awarded the QSM in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to Māori and the community. He has been a kaumātua for a range of organisations including Whangārei District Council, New Zealand Police, Northland Kindergarten Association, local schools and his own hapu, Te Kahu o Torongare.

He has provided protocol for official openings of buildings, bridges, parks and he was involved with planning the British and Irish Lions game in Whangārei last year.

"I think those things you do are just normal things that happen in your time and an opportunity to do something for the community. I think I wanted to be able to give something back and my focus every time I dealt with something was how this would impact on my people."

Richard Shepherd giving evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal's Te Paparahi O Te Raki inquiry. Photo / File

Shepherd was also a spokesman for his hapu during the Te Paparahi o Te Raki hearings.

As a war veteran - who served in Malaya, on the Thailand border, Singapore, and Vietnam - he also presented at the Waitangi Tribunal's veterans inquiry.

But if he has to choose a highlight, it is being involved with the Tikipunga High School Service Academy Youth Development Programme which led to an educational trip for students to South East Asia last year.

"That was a major project for not only me but a number of Vietnam veterans. I'm still buzzing about that. It was a wonderful experience. I think the kids we took over there, we saw the best of New Zealand youth. You hear so much about the bad kids throughout New Zealand but that gave us an opportunity to say 'hey our kids are not all bad'."

Shepherd said he accepted the QSM as he wanted to be appreciative of the person who nominated him.

"I kept on thinking that whoever did it for me didn't do it without reason."