Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Honoree's roots strong in the Bay

By Doug Laing
Hawkes Bay Today·
8 Jun, 2016 02:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Professor John Broughton.

Professor John Broughton.

Dunedin playwright, Maori health authority and Queen's Birthday Honour recipient Professor John Broughton may be the classic example of the notion that you can take the boy out of the Bay, but you can't keep him out.

It's almost 43 years since he left Hawke's Bay, where he was a day-one pupil at Hastings' Frimley School when it opened in 1952, and from 1960 to 1965 as a "nothing exceptional" student of Hastings Boys' High School.

But now aged 69 and made a Companion of the Order of New Zealand (CNZM) for services to Maori health, theatre and the community, his roots remain firmly with Ngati Kahungunu in Hawke's Bay where he grew up the son of Leonard and Margaret Broughton (Dr Len Broughton became a longtime assistant medical superintendent of Hastings Memorial Hospital).

Prof Broughton still has a sister living in Hawke's Bay and he returns at least a couple of time a year most years, particularly to maintain his connections with Kohupatiki Marae, where he spent muich time with his grandparents in his younger days.

The writer or co-producer of more than 20 productions, and recipient of the Bruce Mason Playwright Award in 1990, will see his play Nga Puke performed in Napier later this year by Auckland group Te Pou Maori Theatre.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He started his own path for a career in the medical sector when he studied at Massey University and graduated with a BSc, which he followed with two years at Glaxo Laboratories in Palmerston North.

He then worked for the Polynesian Cultural Centre in Hawaii before returning to study again at Otago University in 1974.

John greeting TRH Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, April 13, 2014.
John greeting TRH Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, April 13, 2014.

He graduated as a dentist in 1977 and spent the next year working as a dental house surgeon at the Dental School in Dunedin, where he was able to connect with the Ngai Tahu heritage of his mother.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He also spent a spent a period in private practice before taking up a full-time position at Otago University in 1989.

He is the principal New Zealand investigator for a research project following childhood dental care of indigenous peoples in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Heading for Shanghai this week, as co-curator of an Otago Museum exhibition on the natural world of Maori, he is one of at least seven people in or from Hawke's Bay who were among the 177 recognised in the Queen's 90th Birthday Honours List, published on Monday.

Discover more

Eight awards for HB icecream

02 Jun 01:30 AM

Citizens' awards open for nominations

02 Jun 03:00 AM

Honouring excellence in hospitality

08 Jun 12:22 AM

Winter Warmers

09 Jun 08:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

04 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

End of swimming pool weeds: Family's delight as cyclone-hit home gets green light

04 Jul 06:00 PM

42 Havelock North homes are out of limbo after two-and-a-half years.

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

On The Up: The paddling club of breast cancer survivors set to represent NZ on world stage

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

Napier ice swimmer Davey Jones - what I gain when I dive into the chilly depths

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Trentham debacle sparks memories of another wrong turn: John Jenkins

Trentham debacle sparks memories of another wrong turn: John Jenkins

04 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP