Jill White in 2018. She was born in Feilding and attended Feilding Agricultural High School. Photo / Palmerston North City Council
Jill White in 2018. She was born in Feilding and attended Feilding Agricultural High School. Photo / Palmerston North City Council
“It’s sort of been busy.”
That was Palmerston North identity Jill White’s response to being named 2023 Manawatū Local Historian of the Year and a This Is Your Life type speech from Mayor Grant Smith.
White’s history adventure started in the 1990s with a local history group.
The jigsaw fiendsaid local history is like doing a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces can fit so many slots. You can keep gathering pieces forever and adding them to the puzzle.
Smith said White not only researches and writes history but has created it.
In 1993, 100 years after women were granted the right to vote, she became the first female MP for the then Manawatu electorate.
In 1998, White became Palmerston North’s first female mayor.
“You are the embodiment of what it means to be totally invested in, and committed to, your community,” Smith said.
White’s “sermon for the afternoon” at the presentation on Sunday was about climate change and the Manawatū River.
We have to work very hard to understand and make excellent decisions that will mean we continue to love the area we live in, she said.
However, we should not spend the whole of our time worrying about what the river might do to our city.
It is important to get in early and continue to enjoy and praise our river before it becomes “Oh my goodness, what are we going to do about the river?”
Jill White with her husband Bruce Wilson, stepdaughter Megan Wilson and Megan's husband, Terry Clune. Photo / Judith Lacy
The Manawatū Local Historian of the Year award is made by the Palmerston North Heritage Trust.
White’s citation says she is an accomplished research historian. Her 2007 master’s thesis, An Uneasy Relationship: Palmerston North and the Manawatū River 1941-2006, was a major achievement.
“It contains material which seems more relevant than ever as cities on floodplains grapple with the threats posed by climate change,” the citation said.
White has also written business history, most notably on the Manawatū Knitting Mills for the Manawatū Journal of History. She has been an active contributor to the city’s Local History Week. She played an important role in ensuring the preservation of important heritage elements of St Paul’s Methodist Church during its demolition.
She served on the Palmerston North Heritage Trust and Te Manawa Museum Society, providing astute strategic guidance to their deliberations.
“Jill White knows her community, has been embedded in it since childhood, and contributed to it as a local and national politician. But it is as a historian that we honour her today.”
Culture and Sport Committee chairwoman Rachel Bowen read the citation.
Councillors William Wood and Kaydee Zabelin also attended the presentation at Caccia Birch House.
Palmerston North's 29th mayor Grant Smith and the 25th mayor Jill White. Photo / Judith Lacy
White paid tribute to historians Jim Lundy and Merv Hancock, saying they gave so much of their love of history to the city and imparted their enthusiasm to others.
