Northland loses two great identities - Strong voices are finally silenced

MARGE MADDREN
Marge Maddren, Whangarei's most-honoured conservationist, died peacefully at Oakhaven Hospital in Whangarei last Friday. She was in her 87th year.
Despite years of ill-health and limited income, Ms Maddren worked tirelessly to promote and protect native trees and shrubs and to protect areas of bushland. Her work was recognised by the highest honours in the New Zealand botanic world.
Her accolades included the rare honour of a fellowship of the Royal Institute of Horticulture; the institute's prestigious Loder Cup for a lifetime of dedication to Northland's native trees and shrubs; and a Queen's Service Medal.
Blunt, tenacious and very persistent, she was never afraid to tell civic leaders what she thought should be done.
A former Whangarei mayor said "when Marge talks we act".
She believed great things could be achieved by hands-on involvement and small-scale fund-raising activities and once wryly summed up her life as "always pushing someone along, as an individual and through the societies I belong to, to preserve something or build something".
Her fascination with the New Zealand natural world evolved in her childhood, which was lonely and difficult after her mother's health collapsed. Lack of money meant she had to focus on her own backyard - the bush of the Western Hills, her father's garden and the nearby Wairohia Stream.
Ill-health mostly kept her out of the workforce but she was able to take an active part in most of the city's horticultural groups, notably the Whangarei Native Forest & Bird Protection Society, which she led for 38 years.
She was also the driving force behind its Friday plant stalls, where members have raised thousands of dollars for conservation work.
Under her guidance, the society has spread the money far and wide - bush restoration; board-walks in kauri forest areas; supplying books on saving New Zealand trees and animals to schools; providing prizes for the Naturalist Club for children; supporting the Whangarei Museum's kiwi house; funding Whangarei's fernery (named for her); planting pohutukawa for the Colour the Coast Crimson project; and fencing off the bush area at the Whangarei Museum and ridding it of pests. Ms Maddren also personally planted and tended the pohutukawa along Riverside Dr.
Whangarei-based ornothologist David Crockett (famous as the rediscoverer of the taiko on the Chatham Is) and former science adviser for the Auckland University teachers' training college in Whangarei, said she was never "territorial" about the work of the society, happy to support other groups wanting to carry out specific conservation projects.
"She was very independent in her thinking and ahead of her time, and she seemed to have the knack of enlisting the support of very able people in getting things done," he said.
Interviewed in 1992, Marge Maddren said she had no regrets about spending her whole life in Whangarei and hardly ever going outside the region.
"I have been delighted to put everything into this town because I am proud of it," she said.
Ms Maddren has made a bequest of land to Whangarei district, adjacent to her former home in Russell, which will give improved access to the Coronation Reserve in the Western Hills.
* MILLIE SRHOJ
The longest-serving local government leader in Northland and possibly New Zealand, Miljenko Vladimir Srhoj, MBE, died on Sunday.
The 88-year-old retired farmer was surrounded by his family - including Mary, his wife for 63 years - when he passed away at his Waiharara home after a long struggle with failing health.
Mr Srhoj was one of eight children of gumdigger farmers Mate and Vica Srhoj, who came to New Zealand from Dalmatia in 1897.
Universally known as "Millie", he was widely respected for his huge contribution to local government in the North, which included his record 36 years on the former Mangonui County Council, 21 of them as chairman.
He was the first mayor of the Far North District Council when it was created in 1989 and had earlier served about 18 months as the first chairman of the newly created Northland Regional Council.
He was a life member of the Labour Party and was the party's parliamentary candidate in the former Bay of Islands electorate in 1966 and 1969, unsuccessfully standing first against Vern Cracknell (Social Credit) then Logan Sloane (National).
While Mr Srhoj had a high profile in these offices, he was also admired for his lifelong service in less prominent roles, which began when he became secretary of the Waihara Tennis Club while still at school.
Mr Srhoj was a director of the Kaitaia Co-op Dairy Co, a member of the Kaitaia Hospital Committee, chairman of the Waiharara church, school and hall committees, and deputy chairman of the Northland Catchment Commission and District Roads Board.
He was named First Citizen of the Far North in 2004, when he was chairman of the Northern Community Board, Kaitaia Hospital Action Group, Switzer Home for the Aged and a trustee with the far North Regional Museum and Waipapakauri Airfield Monument Committee.
Mr Srhoj received the Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and the New Zealand Commemoration Medal in 1990. He was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1984 for his services to local government.
Tributes yesterday praised Mr Srhoj's tireless work for his community, which included leading efforts credited with Kaitaia retaining its hospital.
Northland MP John Carter yesterday described Mr Srhoj as "one of us".
"He was a Northlander through and through. He was utterly dedicated to his beloved North," Mr Carter said.
Labour MP Shane Jones, who was nominated for Parliament by Mr Srhoj, described him as a tireless, passionate community leader and advocate.
"Millie's mana, determination and confidence ensured many a successful end to the campaigns and issues he championed," Mr Jones said.
Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff said Mr Srhoj always
 saw himself as a servant of the people.
"With his passing, the Far North has lost one of its true champions," Mr Semenoff said.
Mr Srhoj's funeral will be held at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Kaitaia at 11am tomorrow followed by burial at the Waiharara cemetery.
He is survived by  Mary, five of their six children, 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.