Dame Cath banishes stuffy formality

Cat Amongst the Pigeons - a memoir
by Cath Tizard, Random House, $39.99
Feisty and irreverent, shrewd and fun-loving, are just some of the qualities the first woman to become Governor-General, Dame Cath Tizard, brought to the stately office as the Queen's representative in New Zealand.
Her appointment in 1990 was controversial, coming after a long career as an Auckland city councillor and Mayor of Auckland during the problematic construction of the Aotea Centre.
At the time, some of her critics could not wait for her to fall flat on her face. Yet through sheer force of personality, a wicked sense of humour and intelligence, she instead managed to lift Government House out of its stiff and starchy past. Although a Labour Party supporter, her decades as a minority member of the Auckland City Council had equipped her well for the loftier vice-regal role. Throughout her political career she worked with and made firm friends with more conservative political colleagues.
She was brought up as an only child in Waharoa in the Waikato, where her father was the chief engineer at the local dairy factory. She met Bob Tizard while studying at Auckland University, marrying the aspiring Labour politician in 1951.
They had four children through three decades of marriage while living the highs and lows of political life. Bob won a seat in Parliament in 1957 but was defeated three years later by Robert Muldoon.
Bob Tizard later re-entered parliament where he became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance after Norman Kirk's death in 1974.
Throughout this time, Cath Tizard raised the children (she writes that Bob spent the weeks in Wellington and part of the weekend playing golf at the Remuera Golf Club), while also working her way into a job as a zoology lecturer at Auckland University.
Dame Cath writes candidly about their decision to end the marriage, and his relationship with the woman he later married. "Who told you?" asked Bob after she confronted him about the affair. "The whole world knew - and had known for years. His colleagues knew, her friends knew, our friends knew, our children knew, even his dumb wife knew."
With her strong personality and pragmatic approach, Cath Tizard leaned to work well with people of opposing political persuasion on the Auckland City Council, and it is remarkable that despite controversy, none of it damaged her career.
She describes the saga of the Aotea Centre as a story of long-deferred aspirations to provide a grand arts and entertainment centre worthy of Auckland. But she says the story is also "a tale of frustration, procrastination, unremitting opposition, cynicism, spite, double-dealing, stress and, for some people, even anguish".
Such battles and the strains leading up to the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland may be forgotten now, but although she writes candidly about Bob, her political opponents and others, there is no hint of the cynicism that usually afflicts long-serving politicians.
As Governor-General, Dame Cath tried to dissuade people from curtsying but she admits to a limited degree of success. She also writes about informal moments with the Queen and other members of the royal family, although the personality who left the biggest impression on her was Nelson Mandela.
Far from falling on her face as Governor-General, Dame Cath brought a refreshing air of informality to the office while improving its relevance. That air of informality shines through in the book, which is an entertaining romp through a remarkable life in public service.