Queen's Birthday Honours: Eight new Knights and Dames lead the best of 2021's appointments

OUR NEW DAMES AND KNIGHTS
* Dame Carolyn Waugh Burns for services to ecological research
* Dame Judith Anne Kilpatrick for services to nursing education
* Dame Hinewehi Mohi for services to Māori, music and television
* Dame Ruia Mereana Morrison for services to tennis
* Sir Michael Grenfell Daniell for services to business, healthcare and governance
* Sir William Alexander Denny for services to medical research
* Sir Wayne Thomas Shelford for services to rugby and the community
* Sir Grahame Charles Sydney for services to art

From trailblazing tennis players to freshwater scientists, this year's Queen's Birthday Honours have lauded the country's best with the highest accolades.

There are 170 people recognised, including former All Black Sir Wayne "Buck" Shelford as one of eight new Kiwis made either a Knight or a Dame.

The majority - 52 per cent - of those recognised in the honours are women, while 33 per cent were from the volunteer, community or local services sector.

Click here to read the full list of Queen's Birthday Honours 2021

Professor Dame Carolyn Waugh Burns is regarded as a pioneer in the ecology of lakes for which she was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Professor Dame Burns said she was "overawed" and humbled by "such a deep and significant honour is wonderful to receive and grateful to those along the way to those who have helped me along the way towards getting it".

The health of the country's lakes was important for not only fisheries, but the economy in general given their integral use for hydroelectric power and tourism.

However, she hoped that more money and time would continue to be invested in them to ensure their water quality was maintained for the continued enjoyment of Kiwis.

Professor Dame Carolyn Burns says she's "overawed" by her new title after being appointed a Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Photo / Linda Robertson

"Lakes have been very much part of our culture even though we haven't valued them to the extent that they deserve."

Distinguished Professor Sir William [Bill] Alexander Denny was appointed as a Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to medical research into cancer.

Co-operation amongst the science sector was key for himself and his team to get important results in their research; which included bringing 15 new drugs to clinical trial.

Sir Bill has been the Director of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre at the University of Auckland since 1999.

He said cancer research was not only rewarding but also exciting and said one of his most proudest moments was working on a project in collaboration with Pfizer, where they developed a compound which bound with its target permanently rather than bouncing off it after a short time.

Professor Sir William [Bill] Denny led a research team to help develop an anti-cancer drug from work on P13 kinase. Photo / File

"It's really co-operation and that's how a small group of New Zealanders can do something useful."

Former artist Sir Grahame Charles Sydney let the reality of his new honour sink in – after initially thinking it was a hoax – he attributed it to the many people who had bought his paintings over his 50-year career.

"Careers like mine only happen because you get supported in them. You can't be a creative person ... unless there are certain people who believe in you and back you up, in my case by buying paintings … if I find a buyer it enables me to do another one.

Sir Grahame Sydney has been recognised for his services to art in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours. Photo / File

"You can't have a lifetime in art or being a painter like me unless you have a had a lifetime of very generous and courageous support. I often think people don't realise how significant it is when they buy something."

Former Fisher & Paykel chief executive Sir Michael Grenfell Daniell said the company's world-leading foray into the design, manufacture, marketing and sales of medical devices that helped people with breathing difficulties had become even more important given the Covid-19 epidemic.

The company's market capitalisation reached $20 billion last year but it was an achievement attributed to the whole team, he said.

Sir Michael Daniell says he couldn't have accomplished what he has without the support of his wife, Glenys, and family. Photo / Greg Bowker

Since retiring from Fisher & Paykel five years ago, he was now involved with numerous companies sharing his knowledge which now spread into hearing implants.

"That connection with medical devices has been important to me and I'm now able to give something back to other organisations as well."

Overwhelmed and humbled by his appointment, he most importantly wanted to thank his wife, Glenys, and family for allowing him the opportunity to dedicate so much of his life to his passion.

Dame Hinewehi Mohi was the first person to sing the New Zealand national anthem in Māori at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Twickenham and since then it had been customary to continue singing the anthem in both Te Reo Māori and English at significant events.

Dame Hinewehi was also a prolific music and television producer and also co-founded the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre (RMTC) in 2004, for people with disabilities.

Dame Hinewehi Mohi DNZM MNZM has been recognised for her services to Māori, music and television. Photo / File

She first started learning te reo when she was about 10 years old, the same time as her dad also begun to learn the language by playing records with a New Zealand/Māori choir singing.

"It was wonderfully inspirational. I used to mimic the singing. I just really loved it, it really connected with me."

She continued on her journey throughout her education and afterwards when she ventured into broadcasting when she began writing songs of her own.

Dame Judy Anne Kilpatrick was initially going to be a teacher but after a random visit to Christchurch Hospital in 1967, she had enrolled herself in nursing school.

By the 1990s she was chair of the New Zealand Nursing Council and was then invited, alongside Margaret Horsburgh, to help set up the nursing school at Auckland University which had always been a dream of hers.

Associate Professor Dame Judith [Judy] Anne Kilpatrick. Photo / Supplied

"Along with a colleague of mine, Margaret Horsburgh, we achieved that, where we were able to have nurses, doctors and pharmacists learning together and we were able to get nursing into an academic pathway where previously we were a group that seemed to have a lot of certificates in our drawer … but they didn't amount to anything in terms of degrees."

Recently Dame Judy led a delegation to Tonga to help develop a graduate education package to deliver training to nurses.

However, 85-year-old tennis champion, Ruia Mereana Morrison thought it was ace after being appointed a Dame.

Dame Ruia received an MBE 61 years ago, shortly after becoming the first person of Maori heritage to play at Wimbledon and has now been appointed a Dame for her services to tennis.

She competed at Wimbledon in 1957 and the following three years, and since then has continued to encourage and mentor athletes.

It's now game, set and match for Wimbledon tennis player and new Dame Ruia Morrison. Photo / Andrew Warner.

Dame Ruia returned to Wimbledon in 2013 where the All England Club awarded her membership to the Last Eight Club.

The career teacher said she still loves watching tennis, with Roger Federer her favourite, "poetry in motion, a ballerina", she says of him.

In recent years, she met Serena Williams in Auckland, presenting her with a cloak made by Ngati Whatua Orakei weavers and added that she lives for the moment.

"I try to mind my own business, but the door keeps opening and shutting and the phone keeps going."

Meanwhile, former Dunedin Mayor, the late David Cull, has also been recognised for his services to local government by being made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit CNZM.

Cull was a councillor from 2007 and Mayor from 2010.

The Whakaari/White Island body recovery team leader from the New Zealand Defence Force – named anonymously as "Serviceman M" - has been awarded The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration [DSD].

The eruption killed 21 people and injured another 26, and Serviceman M ensured that six bodies were recovered off the island and determined the other two victims could not be located, before withdrawing the entire team back onboard the HMNZS Wellington.

Serviceman M supported the subsequent police search operation for the missing two victims over the following days.