New Zealand’s rural community is well represented in the King’s Birthday Honours for 2025.
Recipients’ achievements cover many aspects of rural business and life, including services to the community, industry, sport and health, to name a few.
This year’s honours also show the rich and varied opportunities New Zealand’s rural sector offers.
These include areas as diverse as plant science, gumboot throwing, rural nursing and fly-fishing.
See below for the list of Kiwi rural recipients for King’s Birthday Honours in 2025.
Emeritus Distinguished Professor Alison Stewart - for services to plant science and the arable sector
Emeritus Distinguished Professor Alison Stewart is an internationally renowned plant scientist with a 40-year career focused on sustainable plant protection, soil biology and plant biotechnology.
Stewart has been chief executive of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) since 2018 and was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 for her contributions to biology and plant pathology.
She was chief science officer at Marrone Bio Innovations in the United States from 2013 to 2015 before returning to New Zealand and becoming general manager of forestry science at Scion from 2015 to 2018.
Stewart is internationally recognised for her work on the biocontrol of plant pests and diseases and has commercialised several products in New Zealand and the US.
She has pioneered the implementation of sustainable farming practices that can improve crop yields and quality while minimising environmental impacts.
As chief executive of FAR, she has been instrumental in promoting the arable sector and has strongly advocated to the Government and the public on the importance and value of plant production systems in New Zealand.
Stewart is a proponent of cross-sector engagement, fostering collaboration between researchers, growers, the Government and industry stakeholders for continuous improvement.
Throughout her career, she has been a strong mentor of young scientists and future agricultural leaders, encouraging innovative and ambitious thinking to address New Zealand’s agricultural challenges.
Catriona Ruth Williams - for services to spinal cord injury research and equestrian sport
Catriona Williams has been the founder and driving force behind the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust since its establishment in 2005 and was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for her contributions.
Since 2014, Williams has continued to support spinal cord injury (SCI) research through further promotion, fundraising events and challenges.
To date, CatWalk has raised more than $10 million towards research for an SCI cure, including $420,000 raised at CatWalk’s 10th anniversary fundraiser event in 2015, $350,000 at the “Remarkable” event held in 2017 at the AJ Hackett Bungy Centre and recently $570,000 at the CatWalk Luminary event held at Ellerslie Auckland in 2024.
Williams is a regular speaker around New Zealand, inspiring countless people by her example of courage and determination in the face of adversity and dedicates time to engage with people who have experienced an SCI and are new to life in a wheelchair.
Having herself navigated a second SCI in 2021, she completed an 11-day, 1100km charity ride in the United Kingdom in 2024, a fundraiser in memory of equestrian Caroline March and supporting Spinal Research and the British Eventing Support Trust.
Williams’ efforts have also seen her inducted into the Equestrian Sports New Zealand Hall of Fame in 2023 and win the Community and Not for Profit section at the 2016 New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
Professor Emeritus Ian George (Joe) Mayhew – for services to the veterinary profession, especially equine medicine
Professor Emeritus Joe Mayhew is a world authority in his field of equine neurology and large animal medicine.
Mayhew authored a textbook that is recognised as an essential equine medicine reference for veterinarians.
From 1977 to 1988, he was Associate Professor, then Professor, of the Department of Medical Sciences at the University of Florida, significantly impacting the development of the school’s teaching and research programmes.
From 1988 to 1994, he was Head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences of the Animal Health Trust, United Kingdom.
From 1994 to 2006, he was Professor of Equine Studies and chairman of Veterinary Clinical Studies of the University of Edinburgh, where he oversaw the building of a new veterinary hospital and developed successful clinical training research programmes.
In 2006, he returned to New Zealand as Professor of Equine Studies at Massey University, enabling the Veterinary School to become a world leader by ensuring compliance for accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Mayhew has been Professor Emeritus since 2017 and editor for the New Zealand Equine Veterinary Association since 2014.
Internationally, he has been a board member of various professional colleges in the United States, Europe and New Zealand, and was president of the European College of Veterinary Neurology for three years.
In retirement, Mayhew implemented a test in New Zealand for inherited deafness in certain dog breeds.
He was awarded the New Zealand Veterinary Association’s President’s Award in 2021, the New Zealand Equine Veterinary Association Outstanding Equine Veterinarian Award in 2016, and was inducted into the University of Kentucky Equine Research Association Hall of Fame in 2015.
Graham Vincent Brown - for services to the venison industry
Graham Brown has contributed to the food and hospitality industry for over 40 years, particularly as a global ambassador for New Zealand-farmed venison.
Brown was the chef and owner of the critically acclaimed Scarborough Fare restaurant in Christchurch from 1983 to 1991.
He has worked for the New Zealand Game Industry Board Cervena since 1991 as a chef, international food education and product developer.
Brown has travelled the world promoting premium New Zealand-farmed venison to chefs, importers and both wholesale and retail customers through educational demonstrations at top culinary schools, food expos, celebrity and corporate events and supermarkets.
He has developed venison cuts to suit each individual export market along with recipe formulations for markets in North America, Europe, Scandinavia and China.
Brown had a strong influence in Cervena becoming the second most recognised red meat brand behind Angus Beef in North America, within three years of taking up his international role.
He has established Cervena as the red meat of choice in several culinary schools in America and Europe.
Within New Zealand, he works with educators at various polytechnics with educational demonstrations similar to his overseas activities.
Brown captained the New Zealand team at the 1987 World Culinary Festival in Vancouver, winning gold and silver medals, and gold at the Frankfurt 1988 Culinary Olympics.
Peter Hardy Ballantyne Carty – for services to fly-fishing
Peter Carty is considered a master fly-tier, the art of tying feathers to imitate small organisms to catch trout and salmon, in the sport of fly-fishing.
Carty’s feather patterns are used in New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Europe and Asia, and he has been named among the top five fly-tiers worldwide.
He was one of three principal authors of the 2005 book Masters of Fly-Tying and has been published in John Roberts’ The World’s Best Trout Flies (1994).
Carty was a fly-tying contributing writer for the New Zealand Fish and Game magazine for 12 years.
He was at the forefront of New Zealand’s professional tourist trout fishing guiding industry for 30 years, beginning in 1985, and was one of a group of guides who helped New Zealand become established as a popular international fly-fishing destination in the 1990s.
Carty has been actively involved with and promoted Casting for Recovery, which helps women recovering from breast cancer by teaching them the rudiments of fly-casting and fly fishing, for which he ties all the flies for participants.
Gary Rodney Lane - for services to conservation and philanthropy
Gary Lane is an experienced businessman with a background in the food industry who has made philanthropic contributions, particularly to conservation.
Lane built a predator-proof fence around his property, the Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary, to protect a range of native flora and fauna.
Since building the fence in 2012, his property has been used to care for young kiwi from Remutaka, Tongariro and Taranaki, until they have grown to a suitable weight for release into the wild.
He has encouraged his peers to contribute to projects and funds to ensure the local kiwi population grows and hosts school groups at the sanctuary.
More than 120 kiwi have hatched at his property, which has helped form a founding population at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari to support a release plan for kiwi across Taranaki, Whanganui and south Waikato.
Lane has been the director of the Predator Free 2050 board since 2016.
In 2019, he funded the construction of a hatchery and incubation facility at Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary, which is now a critical part of the organisation Kiwis for Kiwi’s vision to reverse the declining kiwi population.
Lane has funded the Lane Capital Scholarship at the University of Auckland since 2011, providing $8000 per annum for students experiencing financial hardship who otherwise could not afford to study.
Peter Arnold Nation - for services to the agricultural industry and governance
Peter Nation was the chief executive of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society from 2016 until retiring in 2024, having contributed to the rural sector since the 1980s.
Nation served on the board of Fieldays from 2004 to 2016, and various other associated committees from 1995, having become involved through his ANZ regional manager rural role as sponsor representative and banker, supporting capital investments such as the Mystery Creek Pavilion.
As chief executive, Nation has overseen the society’s annual organisation of the National Fieldays event at Mystery Creek, the biggest agricultural event in Australasia.
He also successfully steered the event business through the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nation has been a board member and chairman of the Waikato Chamber of Commerce since 2019.
He was a community representative member for Waikato Regional Council’s Waikato Plan Leadership Committee from 2020 to 2023, and a council member of Agritech New Zealand from 2020 to 2022.
Nation managed the New Zealand Animal Management business unit as national sales manager of the Gallagher Group from 2004 to 2016.
Between 2002 and 2012, he was variously trustee, treasurer and chairman of the New Zealand Farm Environment Award Trust, having assisted with establishing the organisation.
Nation served several years on the St Paul’s Agribusiness in Schools programme advisory board.
Gillian Christine (Gill) Naylor – for services to rural communities, particularly women
Gill Naylor was national president of Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) from 2020 to 2024.
Naylor joined the Cambrian St Bathans branch of RWNZ in 1990, later representing the organisation at the regional and national levels, joining the national board in 2018 before being elected national president.
As national president, Naylor has advocated, inspired and empowered women from across the sector, strengthening rural communities through social connection.
She has advocated with government ministers and agencies on a range of issues impacting rural women and communities to ensure access to social, health, welfare and education services, including school bus routes and banking services.
Naylor was awarded life membership of RWNZ in 2024.
She was a member of the organisation’s education and scholarship committees, considering applications for grants and scholarships, and was a member of the judging panel for the NZI Rural Women New Zealand Business Awards.
Naylor was a member of RWNZ’s Adverse Events Relief Fund Committee during a period of very high demand after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Since 2020, she has been a trustee of the New Zealand Landcare Trust, which facilitates sustainable land and water management through community involvement.
Naylor was a trustee of the Life Education Trust Heartland Otago Southland from 2013 to 2022, and in 2021 received a Life Education Trust New Zealand Distinguished Service Award.
John Daniel O’Sullivan - for services to business and philanthropy
John O’Sullivan has built the family-owned Tumu Group of businesses since 1978, mainly centred on the East Coast of the North Island and currently employing more than 600 staff.
Through Tumu Group, O’Sullivan has invested significantly in local infrastructure and organisations, including the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Trust, Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter, the Hawke’s Bay Foundation, Te Mata Peak Trust and Kaweka Hospital.
He was a board member of ITM Co-operative for eight years.
O’Sullivan financially supported the core training team of Outward Bound during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
In 2021, he supported the establishment of Mates 4 Life, a charitable trust focused on mental health in the workplace.
His businesses have employed work to release prisoners, helping them rehabilitate.
O’Sullivan has also provided contract work to a skill-building programme within the local prison.
In 2014, he set up Tumu Group’s charitable arm, The Evergreen Foundation.
The Foundation established a scholarship programme for rangatahi at Lindisfarne College and a health fund supporting second opinions in cancer and other specialist services.
Through the Evergreen Foundation, O’Sullivan created a Cyclone Gabrielle Relief Fund, raising more than $3.4 million for the East Coast region’s recovery, with a special focus on the heavily impacted horticultural and agricultural sectors.
Neil William Walker, JP - for services to primary industries and the community
Neil Walker has held various roles promoting the development of the dairy and apiculture industries.
Walker began his career on a dairy farm in South Taranaki, before moving into senior roles with dairy industry and science bodies.
He facilitated 300 projects through the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, connecting the dairy industry with the Government and universities in New Zealand and Australia.
Walker was New Zealand’s representative at the Food Standards for Australia and New Zealand authority from 2011 to 2017.
He was a key figure in establishing mānuka honey as a major export, chairing the Primary Group Partnership to develop high-active mānuka plantations and the Apicultural Development Review Board, which consolidated the apiculture industry.
Walker has been a Justice of the Peace since 1991, and has held key roles in various community, religious and environmental organisations.
He has contributed 40 years of service to CCS Disabilities Taranaki, leading the drive to fund the demolition and rebuilding of their premises, and was made a Life Member in 2014.
Walker is serving his ninth term on the Taranaki Regional Council and is currently its deputy chairman.
Dr Richard John Wild – for services to animal welfare and the veterinary sector
Richard Wild has made a significant impact across the veterinary sector, championing animal welfare and rights.
After relocating from Australia in 1993, Wild has had a substantial impact improving animal welfare across New Zealand, starting at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a circuit veterinarian.
In 2005, he became the founding President of the Food Safety and Biosecurity special interest branch of the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA).
He was instrumental in adding animal welfare to the remit of this branch, ensuring this was a central focus for the NZVA.
Wild led the veterinary profession’s contribution to the Government’s Business Growth Agenda.
For this project, he successfully engaged groups such as Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, New Zealand Pork, RNZSPCA and the veterinary profession to align their goals.
While national animal welfare coordinator at the Ministry of Primary Industries, he has been instrumental in developing New Zealand’s animal welfare standards and regulations.
Wild’s work was fundamental in setting up a better system for veterinary certification for the transport of defective animals, and he has been central to the development and implementation of education campaigns for new regulations.
He was president of the NZVA from 2009 to 2012 and won the 2016 NZVA President’s Award.
Wild has chaired the Animal Welfare Network Aotearoa since 2021.
Lloyd James McCallum, JP – for services to the dairy industry and the environment
Lloyd McCallum is a church elder, award-winning dairy farmer and active community member in Southland.
McCallum was one of the original Southland sheep and arable farmers to convert his property to dairy production in 1990, a move that helped to bring prosperity and growth to the region.
He has won several farming awards, including Westpac NZMP Dairy Farmer of the Year in 2002, and the Ballance Farm Environment Award for best dairy farm and Lincoln University Farmer of the Year, both in 1997.
McCallum was a member of the original Fonterra Shareholders Council (SHC) between 2000 and 2013, providing leadership during a period of significant change in the dairy industry.
He has been involved with many industry bodies, including the South Island Dairy Event committee, Livestock Improvement Co-op, and the Southland Demonstration Farm.
He was elected as an Environment Southland Councillor in 2013 and became deputy chairman in 2016.
Significant improvements in the Southland waterways are now visible due to policies made by Environment Southland during McCallum’s tenure.
He has been instrumental in leading farmers in best practice farm management and taking responsibility for environmental effects.
McCallum was one of the first co-chairs of Whakamana te Waituna Charitable Trust, which focused on improving freshwater quality in the Waituna region of Southland.
Ian Robert Flockhart McKelvie – for services to local government, governance and as a Member of Parliament
Ian McKelvie was Mayor of Manawatū District Council from 2002 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Rangitikei from 2011 to 2023.
As an MP, McKelvie was involved with several select committees, including chairing the Primary Production and Governance and Administration Select Committees.
As mayor, he led an initiative to improve the management of the council’s significant housing for the disabled and seniors’ portfolio, resulting in the establishment of the Manawatū Community Trust in 2008.
McKelvie had a leading role with a group of community organisations to merge independent medical practices in Fielding into the Feilding Health Centre and the construction of a new purpose-built medical facility, completed in 2015.
He chaired the board of Special Olympics New Zealand from 2011 to 2021.
McKelvie was president of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand from 1998 to 2002, overseeing a constitutional review that continues to inform the organisation’s present operations.
He was chairman of Te Kawau Rugby Football Club from 1997 to 2001, during which time he guided the club through the sale of its clubrooms and merging with the new Te Kawau recreational centre.
McKelvie is a former New Zealand Pony Club patron, a New Zealand Polo Association honorary member, and has received life memberships from the Royal Agricultural Society and Rangitikei Racing Club.
Julia Louisa (Julie) Pearse – for services to governance and the community
Julie Pearse has held governance roles in several Otago-based organisations for 25 years.
Her voluntary work and governance roles have been informed by her farming background and community service career history.
She played a crucial role in establishing the Otago Farmers Market, serving as a board member between 2001 and 2015, and helping it to become a blueprint for similar markets across New Zealand.
Pearse helped promote the market to student audiences, connect the board with micro businesses and developed policies to guide the market’s board and staff.
In 2002, Pearse joined the board of the Methodist Mission Southern, serving as its chairwoman since 2013.
Here she led an extensive programme of change management, introduced a focus on intervention logic modelling and oversaw the development of initiatives aimed at education, homelessness and poverty.
Pearse also provided her governance expertise and strategic insights to the board of the Tūhara Otago Museum between 2008 and 2018, having earlier invigorated the Friends of the Otago Museum organisation and updated its constitution.
Pearse initiated the annual HD Skinner Memorial Lecture series, which focuses on anthropological research and advances in the Pacific region.
Gary James Herbert Rooney – for services to business and philanthropy
Gary Rooney is a businessman and philanthropist committed to the growth and success of the South Canterbury region.
Rooney’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1976 with a single bulldozer, and he has since built the Rooney Group, employing more than 300 people across multiple divisions, including earthmoving, pipe and cable laying, transportation, and farming.
His work in irrigation scheme construction has made a significant impact, including the Rangitata South scheme, which irrigates 13,000 hectares on the South Canterbury plains.
Rooney encourages natural fauna regeneration and has pioneered the development of a rock fish screen, designed to prevent salmon smolt from entering irrigation schemes.
He has been a driving force behind numerous transformative community projects in the region, including the $8 million redevelopment of Timaru’s Fraser Park and the revitalisation of Waimate, including investment in a medical centre and the restoration of Quinns Arcade.
Rooney has supported the local food bank with three months of funding and has set up several scholarships for young athletes.
After the Christchurch earthquakes, his support was integral in the design and build of the new gymnasium and other facilities at Timaru’s Craighead Diocesan School.
Rooney was an active member and chairman of the Central South Island Fish & Game Council for 29 years.
Charles Edward Ross - for services to the community
Charles Ross has been dedicated to the community of Canterbury for more than 30 years.
Ross has been a member of the Ashburton Rowing Club since 2006, has helped build storage and clubhouse facilities, and obtained lane markers for regattas.
Following the 2020 flooding of the Ashburton River, which destroyed the 10km cycle track linking Lake Hood to the town, Ross was instrumental in the rebuild project, providing equipment such as trucks and graders, which restored the track to its former glory.
As chairman of the Mt Somers Walkway Society, he established and led a working group to fundraise and carry out the scope and build of a safe walking route to the Sharplin Falls in 2017, following the closure of the Falls after the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.
The cost of the project was more than half a million dollars, which under his leadership was raised through fundraising efforts and obtaining grants.
Between 1987 and 2003, Ross was the chairman of the Ashburton Farm Forestry Association, chairman of Lagmhor Westerfield Federated Farmers, chairman of the Lagmohr Board of Trustees, and chairman of the Lauriston Farm Improvement Club.
In 2023, Ross was presented with the Mayor’s Award for Public Service by the Ashburton District Council.
Andrew Norman (Norm) Williamson – for services to agriculture
Norm Williamson is a leader within the Amuri Basin farming community.
He was one of the first to convert a sheep and cropping farm in North Canterbury’s Amuri Basin to large herd dairying, and provided leadership for dairy farmers of the area in promoting the development of irrigation schemes.
Williamson has held leadership roles in the Amuri Irrigation Company, including as its chairman from 2001 to 2016.
Through his roles, he helped focus on the health of both groundwater and surface water in catchments of the Hurunui and Waiau Rivers and tributaries by persuading farmer shareholders to prepare Farm Environmental Plans.
These were among the first such plans to be prepared by New Zealand dairy farmers and led to their eventual nationwide adoption.
Williamson’s involvement contributed to the group being awarded the ECan Resource Management Award in 2008 and the Most Improved River Award at the New Zealand River Awards in 2017.
In the last years of his tenure as chairman, Williamson gained shareholder approval to convert the irrigation schemes to pressurised piped schemes, increasing the irrigated area by 40% using the same amount of water, including design for power generation and involving Ngāi Tahu Farming Ltd. as a large shareholder.
John Albert Coleman – for services to the community and sport
John Coleman and his wife Lily are dairy and beef farmers who have contributed 59 years of voluntary service to the Kaikohe community in various capacities.
The Colemans have been key sponsors of the Kaikohe Agricultural, Pastoral and Horticultural Show, subsidising events to help keep the show running annually during periods of hardship.
In 2023, they donated 10.1 acres of land encompassing native bush and Pākinga Pā back to the local hapu to maintain.
John was a rugby referee for the Bay of Islands area from 1966 to 1985 and mentored other referees locally.
He was on the committee of Bay of Islands Federated Farmers for 20 years from the 1980s and was president in 1995.
Coleman was a member of the Kaikohe Community Board from 1984 to 1990, representing the Far North District Council and the Northland District Council.
He was on the committees of Kaikohe West School, Kaikohe Intermediate and Northland College for over 20 years.
Coleman was involved in numerous school trips, hosted visits at their farm, and helped manage galas and fundraise for student activities and travel.
He has been the head coach of Kaikohe Swimming Club between 1980 and 2020 and was chairman until 2014, overseeing the installation of solar heating, which he helped finance, and the development of the clubrooms.
Coleman received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.
Lily Coleman - for services to the community and sport
Lily Coleman and her husband John are dairy and beef farmers who have contributed 59 years of voluntary service to the Kaikohe community in various capacities.
She has been involved with the Kaikohe Rural Women’s Division from 1966 to 2023, including as president in 1969/1970.
Coleman ran a spinning and weaving group across the Bay of Islands between 1970 and 1990.
She was involved with the committees of Kaikohe West School, Kaikohe Intermediate and Northland College for over 20 years.
Coleman was a Speld tutor from 1999 to 2010, teaching children with learning disabilities to read from her home.
From 1970, she held various roles with Kaikohe Athletic Club until 2010 and the Harrier Club until 2000.
Coleman officiated athletics at local and regional levels and the New Zealand Colgate Games.
She has fundraised for athletes to compete at all levels.
Coleman was a swimming coach at Kaikohe Swimming Club from 1966 until 2020 and served as secretary and treasurer in the 1980s.
Annie Elizabeth (Anne) McCracken – for services to the community
Anne McCracken has had a varied involvement with community organisations, outdoor recreation and local government in Southland.
McCracken and her husband have farmed in Western Southland for many years, where she has supported community projects including the Southern Scenic Route, the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track, McCrackens Rest, the Southland Locator Beacon Charitable Trust and Tuatapere Promotions.
She was a Waiau Health Trust director from 2000 to 2012, campaigning for improved rural health support for the Tuatapere area.
McCracken has been on the executive committee of the Southland Medical Foundation for more than 20 years.
She is a life member of the Borland Lodge Adventure and Education Trust and has been secretary and vice president for over 30 years.
McCracken has been president of the Southland Women’s Club, chaired the Policy and Planning Committee, and became a life member after 21 years’ involvement.
She was elected to the Southland District Council from 2001 for two terms and served on the Southland Conservation Board.
McCracken was president of the Southland Art Society in 2009.
She has coordinated the Dictionaries in Schools project for the Invercargill North Rotary Club and has volunteered for the Invercargill Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
McCracken is a programme maker for Radio Southland and has interviewed people for a Southland Oral History project.
Terence John (Terry) O’Regan – for services to nursing and the community
Terry O’Regan has served the medical profession for more than 50 years, particularly on the West Coast.
O’Regan was trained in psychiatric and general nursing, practising initially in Christchurch from the 1960s before transferring to Greymouth to complete the general nursing programme and working in all areas of Greymouth Hospital.
He was appointed district nurse in Haast in the early 1980s, utilising his broad experience in psychiatric, emergency and general nursing.
He was the rural nurse for Moana and the surrounding districts.
Recognising the need for rural nurses to have time away for study and holidays, he became the relief rural health nurse for the entire West Coast for more than 20 years, travelling the distances in his campervan, covering travel and accommodation.
His rural nursing experience and skill in palliative care and support have allowed rural people to stay in their homes and communities when unwell.
O’Regan is currently a member of the Moana community and involved with fundraising at the annual market day, and a member of the Moana St John’s church restoration group.
He was a member of the Grey District Council for the Eastern Ward for a term.
Alan Rex (Curly) Troon – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Alan “Curly” Troon is a life member of the Taihape Volunteer Fire Brigade and has helped to promote Taihape through gumboot throwing.
Troon joined the Taihape Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1991 and has been chief fire officer since 2009, being awarded life membership in 2022.
He oversaw the rebuild of the new Taihape Fire Station, which opened in 2022.
Troon has worked for Rangitīkei County Council and has held many volunteer roles within the community, including past president of the Taihape Tennis Association and Taihape Kindergarten Committee and is the current president of the New Zealand Boot Throwing Association (NZBTA).
In the mid-1980s, he became a champion thrower in Taihape’s annual Gumboot Day and has since promoted the sport with his wife, and they have taken Taihape to world competitions.
In 2021, he won the Toyota Lifetime Legacy Award from NZBTA as part of the Norwood Rural Sports Award.
Troon is a past member of the Taihape St John Area Committee and has driven the Taihape ambulance when the team is short-staffed.
He has been coaching young people at the Taihape Badminton Club since 2023.
Dr Glenys Margaret Weir – for services to health
Glenys Weir has served the Gore community as a General Practitioner since 1981.
Weir began working at the Gore Medical Centre in 1981 and was the first female GP in the Gore District.
She volunteered her services to rural health days, offering free consultations for health screening and promotion.
She has been a co-director of the Gore Medical Centre from 1996 to 2023 and participated in the local after-hours roster.
Since 2005, Weir has been a teacher with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners’ vocational training programme, and she has provided daily teaching, mentoring and supervision of registrars as a contracted teacher between 2008 and 2019.
Many of Weir’s former students have stayed on to serve the Southland community.
She arranged and led a local doctor peer review group, providing collegial support and a place to review cases.
Weir has engaged with the wider community at various times to develop community-based care initiatives and supported timely access to care through weekly rural clinics in Waikaka, Cremation Referee services and free school-based health clinics.
For 20 years, she served as a medical sexual assault clinician, assessing and supporting victims of sexual abuse.
Since 1981, Weir has been involved in the leadership of the Waikaka-Knapdale Presbyterian Church, including teaching Sunday School.
Eteuati (Eddie) Fa’avae – for services to the Pacific community
Eddie Fa’avae has contributed to the Pacific communities in the Nelson region for more than 30 years.
Fa’avae led the committee that, in 1996, established the first Congregational Church of Samoa in the northern South Island, and subsequently was a foundation member and the first Deacon of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa in Nelson, established in 2001.
He was a founding member, chairman from 1990 to 2011, and cultural adviser until 2021 of the Nelson Tasman Pasifika Community Trust, playing a key role in its establishment and operations, forging strong networks with local businesses and welfare organisations, ensuring Pacific families have access to crucial support services.
Fa’avae has been pivotal in fostering and strengthening relationships between the Pacific community and local iwi, notably in fundraising efforts to build Whakatū Marae in Nelson.
He was pivotal in addressing the need for migrant workers in the Nelson region, partnering with local stakeholders to bring the first migrant workers to the area.
This initiative, which has since transitioned into the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, has been critical in supporting the local orchards and providing economic opportunities for workers.
Fa’avae volunteered his services with the RSE scheme from 2006 to 2021, providing pastoral care to workers and helping with integration into the community.
“He believed deeply that you should leave the land in a better state than you found it."