John Gallagher has been appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Photo / Dave Duffin
A businessman, a former All Blacks coach, an artist and a wood turner from the Waikato are among those named in the New Year Honours.
A total of 190 Kiwis received accolades this year; including at least 25 from the Waikato Herald circulation area.
The region is now home to a new knight as Sir John Gallagher has been appointed a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business, education, philanthropy and the community.
Gallagher, director of Gallagher Holdings, was appointed a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 and has since continued to serve and contribute to his community and various organisations.
He also serves as a director of Habitat for Humanity Hamilton, which he guided from small beginnings to operating in the central North Island region, and served on the council of the University of Waikato for 25 years, including terms as pro-chancellor and chancellor from 2003 to 2006.
Gallagher has been a New Zealand National Fieldays Society founding exhibitor, a Hamilton city councillor for 12 years and a Waikato regional councillor for three years.
Meanwhile, the Waikato is also home to two companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit – former All Blacks coach Ian Foster and artist Frederick Graham.
Foster was honoured for his services to rugby. He was assistant coach of the All Blacks from 2012 to 2019 before becoming head coach from 2020 until 2023.
As assistant coach, he and Sir Steve Hansen led the All Blacks to win 93 of their 108 tests across eight years. During his time as head coach, the All Blacks had a 70% win rate.
Before his time with the All Blacks, Foster coached the Chiefs between 2004 and 2011, placing in the top eight in Super Rugby across five years. As a player, Foster made 148 appearances in the fly-half position for Waikato and in 28 games for the Chiefs.
Sculptor Fred Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura), originally of Arapuni, was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Māori art.
He has been involved in New Zealand art since the 1950s and has contributed to the growth, development and promotion of Māori art nationally and abroad.
Graham was a pioneer of the Contemporary Māori Art Movement and in 1966 he was a key figure in organising one of the first exhibitions of contemporary Māori painting and sculptures in Hamilton.
He represented New Zealand at many international exhibitions throughout his career, including the 1986 Te Ao Marama (Seven Māori Artists) exhibition that toured Australia and a 1992 United States tour showcasing contemporary Māori art. More recently he has exhibited at the Venice Biennale.
Since 1996 he has served on the Haerewa Māori Cultural Advisory Group at the Auckland Art Gallery. He has produced sculptures that are displayed in many New Zealand cities and towns as well as international galleries.
Most recently, Graham was commissioned to create sculptures for the new Catholic College in Drury and a roundabout south of Tirau. In 2018, he was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Meanwhile, Clare Hutchinson-de Ranitz has been made an honorary officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to midwifery after having championed support for whānau in midwifery in Hamilton for more than 40 years.
She was a founding member of the New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) in 1990 and became the inaugural lead maternity carer (LMC) in the Waikato region after the Nurses Amendment Act 1991.
From 1991 until 2022, Hutchinson-de Ranitz delivered more than 5000 babies. She helped establish River Ridge Birth Centre in 1997 at Southern Cross Hospital to provide an alternative birthing option for whānau, other than hospital or home births.
When RRBC closed in 2002, she initiated the establishment of River Ridge East Birth Centre, a purpose-built primary birthing facility which has since seen more than 11,000 babies born.
There are 10 members of the New Zealand Order of Merit from the Waikato Herald circulation area.
Paula Baker was honoured for her services to health governance and the community. She has been a trustee of the Braemar Charitable Trust since 2014 and general manager since 2016.
With Braemar Trust, Baker championed initiatives including the charitable surgery programme, providing free surgeries for those in need at Braemar Hospital, and the creation of several training programmes and scholarships for health education.
She was deputy chairwoman of the New Zealand Dietitians Board from 2016 to 2019 and she served on the boards of several organisations, including Kerikeri Retirement Village, Community Living Trust in Hamilton, New Zealand Dental Council and Northern Districts Cricket.
Bronwyn Groot, of Waiuku, was honoured for services to fraud prevention awareness.
She has used her expertise in fraud awareness, education and prevention and financial security to ensure the safety of older people in New Zealand since 2010.
Groot has developed materials and content to educate on fraud, scams and financial elder abuse, and she was a member of the cross-government Fraud Working Group. As a member of the organising committee of the Fraud Film Festival she produced and appeared in the New Zealand documentary Fraud Hurts.
Dr Ingrid Huygens, of Hamilton, was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to education and Māori.
She co-founded Tangata Tiriti – Treaty People in 2006, an education programme on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
A New Zealand-born child of Dutch immigrants and a long-time member of the Pākehā Tiriti movement since the 1980s, Huygens helped organise a national conference for tauiwi communities to support Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2000.
The not-for-profit Tangata Tiriti was formed in response to calls by refugee and migrant communities for Treaty education in plain English and in their languages. As part of this, Huygens helped establish the ground-breaking programme Te Tiriti in our Languages in 2022, which now produces Tiriti education resources in more than 25 languages of New Zealand communities.
Her 2007 PhD traced the contributions of Pākehā Treaty education groups to honour Te Tiriti in collaboration with ngā iwi Māori.
Frederick Irvine, of Hamilton, was honoured for his services to woodcraft and education.
He is an expert woodturner who has taught woodcraft skills to people of all ages and backgrounds, including at Hamilton primary schools from 1969 to 1989 and at Waikato Polytechnic.
He helped establish the Waikato Guild of Woodworkers and has been patron of the club since 2000. He has specialised in the challenging art of ornamental woodturning and assisted international firm Teknatool to develop new equipment for ornamental turning.
He has demonstrated his abilities at symposia nationally and internationally, including setting up a course at a college in Shandan, China.
Dr Paul Malpass, of Taumarunui, has been honoured for his services to health.
He was a specialist general surgeon and public health physician who has been contributing to his community, district health boards, government agencies and health accreditation for more than 45 years.
Malpass began as a general surgeon with the Air Force in 1972, before working at Taumarunui Hospital from 1976. He served multiple terms at the Waikato District Health Board, and during this time was a strong advocate for rural health needs.
He was the inaugural head of the Bay of Plenty Multidisciplinary Clinical School in 2008 and assisted in its development. He served as clinical director of Taupō Hospital, Lakes District Health Board from 2013 to 2017.
Emeritus Professor Asad Mohsin, of Hamilton, has been honoured for his services to the Muslim community and education.
He served as the president of the Waikato Multicultural Council and Waikato Muslim Association between 2014 and 2023, initiating the first Multicultural Day in Hamilton, now held annually.
He was a founding member of the Waikato Intercultural Fund Board and was a member of the Tourism Waikato Advisory Board between 2005 and 2006. He was the president of the Waikato Muslim Association from 2017 to 2023, leading the organisation to arrange the first New Zealand Muslim Leaders Symposium in 2018.
As a trustee of the Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust since 2018, he has engaged through the Settlement Centre Waikato to help migrants and refugees to connect with New Zealand culture, community and events.
After the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks, Mohsin facilitated a $30,000 annual scholarship fund through an MOA (memorandum of agreement) between the University of Waikato and the Waikato Muslim Association for an annual award for four Muslim students.
Associate Professor Linda Te Aho (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta, Waikato), of Hamilton, was made a member the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to Māori and legal education.
Te Aho has contributed significantly to legal education at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, establishing the Māori and Indigenous Governance Research Centre at the Faculty, and she has long served as Associate Dean Māori.
As an appointed guardian for the co-management of the Waikato River ecosystem in 2012, she was instrumental in developing the vision for the river’s holistic restoration.
She is a technical adviser on Māori legal issues in relation to lands and freshwater for iwi, Crown agencies and government departments. Her publications Towards a Rangatiratanga Framework for Governance of Waterways and Te Mana o te Wai have contributed to debate on proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act.
She is a member of the Te Arataura tribal executive for Waikato Tainui, a trustee for Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and has served as a director of Tainui Group Holdings.
Keith Trembath, of Paeroa, has been honoured for his services to the community, agriculture and education.
He was involved with farm training from 1978 to 1998 as a board member and chairman of the Auckland Federated Farmers Cadet Scheme and later as chair of the Waikato Agricultural Industry Training Organisation (ITO).
Trembath was on the National Council of Federated Farmers from 1987 to 1992 and was deputy chair of Federated Farmers for Hauraki Coromandel from 2004 to 2014.
He was a Hauraki district councillor from 2002 to 2007 for the Paeroa Ward and has been a trustee of Waikato East Life Education Trust since 2004 and chairman since 2010.
Trembath was deputy chair of St John Paeroa Area Committee from 2004 to 2019, where he established the Op Shop and helped fund a new ambulance.
Anita Varga, of Matamata, has been honoured for her services to women and the construction industry.
She was the first woman to be a regional manager at Fulton Hogan and has mentored and guided women into leadership roles and encouraged multiple women to obtain tertiary qualifications.
Varga was instrumental in the introduction of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the Tauranga region and introduced specially designed equipment for pregnant individuals.
She has been chair of the National Association of Women in Construction New Zealand since 2022 and has been motivating young women within and into the construction industry in the Bay of Plenty region.
Belinda Walker, of Taupō, has been honoured for her services to the community.
She established the Kinloch Families Trust, which drives community events and celebrations, including Easter and Matariki community celebrations and the annual Kinstock Music in the Park Festival.
Walker has represented the community at council meetings and has led fundraising efforts and negotiations with the local council to build a kindergarten which will double as a community space.
Meanwhile, Paora Moyle (Ngāti Porou ki Wharekāhika), of Thames, has been made a companion of the King’s Service Order for services to survivors of abuse in care.
Moyle has used their personal experience to serve as a social worker for more than 30 years, advocating for children who have been removed from their families and placed in state and faith-based care.
They were a member of Te Ara Takatū Reference Group, a group of Māori-led survivors, kaupapa Māori advocates and academics who met regularly with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions.
They also researched Voices of Takatāpui, Rainbow and MVPFAFF+ Survivors, an independent research report provided to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission.
Moyle has advocated to ensure the response to the inquiry accounts for concerns and interests of all survivors, including survivors of abuse in care who are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
There are 10 new recipients of the King’s Service Medal in Waikato.
Terry Campbell, of Taupō, received the honour for his services to horse racing and governance.
Shortly after moving to Taupō in 2012 he became involved with the Taupō Racing Club where he has been club president since 2013. Over 10 years, he has helped to make the club financially sustainable through fundraising, sponsorship and strong management.
Since the club separated from local racing clubs in 2018, its membership has increased 40% and the club has enjoyed an increased number of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing fixtures and economic activity.
Through a joint venture with the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, Campbell has opened the Taupō Racing Club facilities to accommodate visitors to the town and separately leased some of its grounds for cropping.
Sally Davies, of Te Awamutu, received the honour for her services to hockey and nursing.
She has volunteered at Te Awamutu Sports Hockey Club (TAHC) since 1990 as a coach and served as the inaugural president until 2007.
Davies volunteered as a coach at Te Awamutu Intermediate School since 1982 and is a key driver of intermediate school hockey. She was a player in the New Zealand Masters 50s team in the late 1990s and selects and coaches teams for the Aims games in Tauranga, also having been involved in fundraising for these events.
In addition to her hockey volunteering, she has been a practice nurse in Te Awamutu since 1978 and was one of the first nurses in New Zealand to specialise in diabetes management.
Valerie Lissette, of Hamilton, received the King’s Service Medal for her services to dance.
She established the Valerie Lissette School of Dance (VLSD) in Hamilton in 1976 and has taught dance in the Waikato community for 47 years, handing over directorship of the school this year.
Lissette expanded the studio from teaching ballet to include jazz, tap, contemporary, and musical theatre for all ages, later including age group classes for preschoolers and adults over 55.
She has prepared thousands of dancers for Royal Academy of Dance ballet examinations and has mentored many who have gone on to successful dance careers nationally and internationally.
On many occasions, the Imperial Russian Ballet requested students from VLSD to join its performances when in Hamilton, for example in 2016, when 36 children performed in The Nutcracker.
Ron Moles, of Matamata, received the honour for his services to education and the community.
He was principal of Firth Primary from 1976 to 1992, where under his leadership a special needs unit was developed, a New Zealand first.
He has been a long-serving delegate to the Waikato branch of the New Zealand Education Institute and the NZEI Principals Council. He held executive roles including president, secretary and councillor of Matamata-Putaruru NZEI and has been a long-time co-ordinator of the Matamata District Principals Association.
He is involved with the Keep Matamata Beautiful Society, the Matamata Centennial Drive Committee and the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust. He led a group of Morrinsville principals in the development of a set of student reports to parents, subsequently used as a template by many schools nationwide in the 1970s.
Fiona Murdoch, of Hamilton, received the King’s Service Medal for her services to dance.
Murdoch has studied and collected many folk dances, including dances of the Celtic nations, Balkan and European countries, and historical period dances including Regency and colonial dances, amongst others.
She was a member of the New Zealand “Maenads” Dance Group which performed in Greece in 2007 and she founded Dance Folkus in Hamilton in 1994. She has been teaching these various styles of dance throughout New Zealand.
Graeme Pearce, of Thames, received the honour for his services to heritage preservation and the community.
He maintained historic cemeteries in Thames as a volunteer caretaker and at his own expense since 2000.
Pearce regularly visits the Shortland Cemetery, Tararu Cemetery and the urupā at Pārāwai, where he mows lawns, does line trimming, clears weeds and cleans tombstones for these closed cemeteries that receive only limited council maintenance.
His efforts have helped uncover lost graves and plots, with his research helping correct and enhance cemetery records. He has helped family researchers find graves and has volunteered his time to Find A Grave since 2014, photographing and documenting 1100 grave sites for online searching.
Peter Priest and his wife Sue, of Whangamatā, have both received a King’s Service Medal for their services to Māori and conservation.
Peter (Te Ātiawa o Taranaki, Ngāti Rāhiri) and Sue have served their communities of Whangamatā and Waitara for 25 years, often in the roles of chair and treasurer respectively for various organisations.
Peter has chaired the Ngāti Rāhiri Hapu o Ātiawa (Taranaki) management committee since 2018, helping the hapū to grow from a position of financial and administrative difficulty to secure assets, financial stability and a strategic plan for its future.
Both of them have made significant contributions to estuary care in Whangamatā since 2003 and led the development of Māori language, culture and tikanga in Whangamatā, including community te reo lessons and helping organise the community’s first Matariki celebrations.
They helped prepare a business case to secure land for the establishment of a community marae in Whangamatā, with land allocated in February 2024.
Rangimahora Reddy (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Rangitāne), of Hamilton, received the honour for her services to Māori health.
Reddy dedicated more than 20 years to Māori health and wellbeing, including serving as the chief executive of Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust (Rauawaawa) since 2010, a culturally focused charity providing health and wellbeing, housing, welfare, education and recreational services for kaumātua.
During her leadership, Rauawaawa has pioneered kaumātua-centred programmes, including national and regional wellbeing events, begun the revitalisation of Rauawaawa’s “Te Puna o Te Ora” facility into New Zealand’s first dementia and age-friendly, kaumātua-led and digitally enabled, community hub.
She helped establish the Rauawaawa Enterprise for Kaumātua Aspirations (Reka), a social enterprise initiative that produced Māori-designed cookie cutters to support kaumātua with dementia.
Grahame Webber, of Cambridge, received the King’s Service Medal for his services to local government and farming governance.
He has contributed to farming and local government in the Waikato region since the 1980s, having been a member of Cambridge Federated Farmers from 1982 to 2020.
He also chaired the Dairy Section of Waikato Federated Farmers from 1989 to 1991, and was director of the New Zealand Dairy Group from 1991 to 1994.
He was elected to the Waipā District Council from 2001 to 2022, serving as deputy mayor from 2010 to 2019 and chaired the sister city committee with Le Quesnoy in France and Bihoro in Japan from 2007 to 2019.
Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist and assistant news director at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.
Jones said it was 'disgraceful’.