The 2024 New Year’s Honours list included nine North Shore recipients, acknowledged for their dedication to and achievements in activities that range from curling to publishing, songwriting to climate change research and advocacy, and more. Christine Young backgrounds the achievements of these community members, with details from their Honours citations and additional information from the four people awarded a CNZM.
Dale Mary Adeline Garratt, and David Reginald Garratt, of Albany Heights, for services to Christian music production.
Dale and David Garratt each receive a CNZM after more than 50 years creating Christian music that has influenced and inspired people around the globe. David says they were surprised at receiving their honours “because it was for Christian music… [it] was for a very select audience [and] I would imagine it was unknown by most of New Zealand's population.”
On the announcement of their dual honours, Steve Braunias wrote a feature in The Herald that named the Garratts as “the biggest selling artists you’ve never heard of” and “a superstar couple who’ve sold millions of records”.
The full history of their organisation, Scripture in Song, is detailed on their website (scriptureinsong.org). They met at a Youth for Christ NZ rally in 1962, “at a time worldwide when believers in the Christian faith were becoming aware of the supernatural gifts being made available by the Holy Spirit,” says David. “Although Dale and I embraced what was happening, we had very little natural skill to accomplish what we were feeling. I had very limited ability as a musician and neither of us can read music. This meant that our personal trust in God became a pre-eminent factor in what we did, and we needed to employ people with skills in the music area.”
Dale and David began as a duet at Youth for Christ NZ rallies, and released the first Scripture in Song EP in 1968. They went on to produce a series of albums and song books of Bible verses set to soft rock, and became leading musicians and songwriters internationally in the charismatic movement in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1972, their first 24-track studio album put the duo on the map across the globe – selling hundreds of thousands of albums and being certified platinum in New Zealand. For the next three decades, they toured internationally, created song books, and recorded live and in the studio.
In 1995, two years after the 25th anniversary of Scripture in Song (which was celebrated with a massive “Oct 1” rally in Auckland) Dale and David felt “God was calling us into a new direction”. That year, they created New Sound Publishing “as a way to produce and facilitate this ‘new sound’ we saw God highlighting through indigenous cultures and their unique worship expressions”. An album featuring cultural expressions of worship from the nations represented at Oct 1 was recorded live at the event.
This album was, perhaps, part of Dale discovering her Māori identity. Te Ao Maori News says that Dale (now 84) could be regarded as one of the best-selling Māori composers. She originally knew nothing about her Māori identity, as her grandmother and her mother had hidden their Māori heritage and were insistent that she was Scottish. It was only belatedly that her whānau connected to their Ngāpuhi and Te Aupōuri whakapapa. Now, the Garratts’ songs incorporate Māori and other indigenous languages.
The next two decades featured financial losses, illness and heartbreak, with the loss to cancer of their daughter Rachel. But they never doubted the “depth and richness of God's never-ending love to us” and as they celebrated 50 years of Scripture in Song in 2018, they celebrated as they had for the 25th anniversary, and have continued to write songs testifying to the depth of their faith.
Dr Kevin Edward Trenberth, Rothesay Bay, for services to geophysics
Dr Kevin Trenberth is a New Zealand scientist, world-renowned in the field of climate variability and climate change. He worked as a climatologist at the Climate Analysis Section at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, where he was appointed Distinguished Scholar in 2020, and is an honorary faculty member in the Physics Department at Auckland University.
Kevin’s work has been widely recognised internationally. Among the many awards and accolades are the American Meteorological Society Editors Award (J. Climate) in 1989; the American Meteorological Society Jule G Charney award in 2000; the NCAR Distinguished Achievement award in 2003; the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (joint with Aiguo Dai, with a $US133,000 award) in 2013; the American Geophysical Union (one of the most respected organisations of earth scientists) Climate Communication Prize ($US25,000) in 2013; and the American Geophysical Union Roger Revelle Medal in 2017.
He has been involved for many years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), serving as a convening lead author and lead author of the 1995, 2001 and 2007 Scientific Assessment of Climate Change reports from IPCC, and shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC.
“I am grateful for the New Zealand recognition,” he says. “Surprisingly, few in New Zealand seem to know about my work or accomplishments. I do not do social media and I have perhaps dropped from sight, but I am still regularly contacted by reporters from the US….”
Kevin attended Linwood College in Christchurch from 1958 to 1962, and performed with distinction in the sporting arena as well as academically. His strong connection with the United States and his stellar academic career began when he won a New Zealand government fellowship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a Doctorate in Meteorology in 1972.
Kevin is an expert in global warming and its influence on precipitation, drought, sea level rise, and hurricanes, and is as puzzled as this writer as to why his award nomination was for geophysics. “Curious, isn't it? [It’s] not clear to me. My work is certainly in climate science, but it is quite broad.” He is interested in El Niño/La Niña and other patterns related to weather and climate variability and his research emphasises the analysis of observational data to understand what happens in the real world and how well computer models replicate those climate observations.
Now back in New Zealand, he is still publishing, with his latest paper, co-authored with a number of international scientists, coming out in mid-January. (11 January 2024, in Advances in Atmospheric Science.)
During his career, Kevin has served on a number of international bodies and committees, including the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP, 1999–2006), and chairing the WCRP Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) scientific steering group (1996–1999), and the WCRP Observation and Assimilation Panel (2004–2010). He chaired the Global Energy and Water Exchanges scientific steering group from 2010 to 2013. He holds several Fellowships, including as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Summing up why he believes he was honoured with a CNZM, Kevin says, “Coming from New Zealand, I always had a much more global view of the atmosphere and climate system than my colleagues. I was very involved in US high level committees but also in international activities, mainly through the WCRP. I have been more involved in the WCRP than anyone else, and I have chaired more different committees and panels than anyone…. I also was as involved as anyone in the IPCC and I believe I was the only person to attend the Policy Makers Summary intergovernmental meetings for the second, third and fourth IPCC Assessments.”
Kevin has nearly 600 publications to his name, including 71 books or book chapters. His papers and articles make fascinating reading for anyone interested in climate change. A full list of his speaking engagements, committees and publications, as well as access to his memoir and book are on his website: https://www2.cgd.ucar.edu/staff/trenbert/vita.pdf
Jo-anne Edna Mary Wilkinson (Lady Dingle), MNZM, Rosedale, for services to youth
Jo-anne Wilkinson’s 2024 honour follows up an MNZM in 2011 for services to youth, in recognition of her having helped many thousands of young people transform their lives. She was “absolutely surprised, delighted and honoured” to be told of this second honour for her work, which she believes “recognises the importance of increased confidence, aspiration and resilience of young people to the future wellbeing, prosperity and future leadership of a successful Aotearoa.”
“The skills to develop aspirations and the resilience to achieve them is something I believe should be embedded in our culture as Kiwis… but many get left behind. My goal would be to see government, business and other effective organisations working together to resolve the inequity issues so apparent today.”
Sir Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson Lady Dingle founded the Graeme Dingle Foundation nearly 30 years ago in 1995, with a vision to improve New Zealand’s negative youth statistics. The Foundation is a leading child and youth development charity, working directly with schools and communities through its programmes KiwiCan, Stars, Career Navigator, Project K, Kiwi Tahi and MYND, to support Aotearoa New Zealand’s tamariki and rangatahi at different life stages. The Foundation works annually with nearly 30,000 children and young people aged 5–24, and since its establishment, more than 300,000 young people have undertaken a Graeme Dingle Foundation programme.
As co-founder, chief executive and board member of the Graeme Dingle Foundation at various junctures, Jo-anne has made a significant and indelible impact on the organisation where she still serves on the board. Over a 20-year period, she was instrumental in developing and securing the Foundation’s programme. She has driven the organisation’s research and evaluation to ensure the programmes can prove their outcomes and have a direct influence on young people’s lives.
“From inception,” she says, “we have had robust research and evaluation so we keep current to meet the evolving needs of children and young people.” She initiated the Foundation’s Community Development Strategy in 2010. She concluded as executive director of the Foundation in 2013 and joined the Foundation’s board of which she has been deputy chair since 2016. She chaired Graeme Dingle Foundation Auckland from 2012 to 2014, driving the merger of the five regional trusts into a single body.
Jo-anne, who qualified with an LLB from Victoria University, is an accomplished outdoor adventurer in her own right, and has also held significant governance positions in the arts public and social sectors.
Her outdoor adventures have included sea kayaking journeys around the New Zealand coastline including a 1200 km sea kayak and mountain traverse; several Arctic journeys including a 4000km traverse of Alaska and the Bering Sea by small boat; a sea kayaking journey in Vanuatu; a high-altitude circumnavigation of Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru; and an ascent to 5700m in Western Himalaya. She also led an Antarctic trip for Project K graduates in 2005 – the first of its kind for the organisation.
In 2014, she was the winner of the Westpac Women of Influence award in Social Enterprise. She was a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors from 2012-2018 and has held governance roles for the Graeme Dingle Foundation, the Foundation’s Endowment Trust, and the Families Commission (Superu); chaired the Ministry of Social Development’s Grievance Panel; and was an Oranga Tamariki Risk and Assurance Panel member from 2017 to 2020.
Steven George Campbell, Torbay, for services to Search and Rescue
Steve Campbell is the founder and chief executive officer of Youth Search and Rescue Trust (YSAR). He founded YSAR in Tauranga in 2007 in response to the challenges presented by the aging demographic of Land Search and Rescue and Coastguard volunteers. The three-year programme for 14- to 18-year-olds focuses on growing the skills and confidence of rangatahi, creating future opportunities for young people in search and rescue and emergency management. Under his leadership, more than 700 students have taken part in the nationally delivered programme.
In 2017 he led a youth delegation to Australia to speak at an international search and rescue conference and has since facilitated two delegations to the United States to collaborate with SAR teams. While employed with the New Zealand Police, he was a member of the Police Search and Rescue squad and was the Search Incident Controller for the Western Bay of Plenty for Land and Sea incidents.
Steve was a member of the Police Disaster Victim Identification Squad, contributing to recovery efforts following the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. For two years he volunteered as a crew member and winch operator on the Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter. He is a volunteer for Land Search and Rescue New Zealand and has held several governance roles, including as current chair of Kaupapa Hauora Youth Adventure Trust.
Norah Elizabeth Matthews (Elizabeth), Beach Haven, services to curling
Elizabeth Matthews has worked to promote and develop the sport of curling in New Zealand over 20 years and to enhance New Zealand’s presence in curling internationally. She became the first woman president of the New Zealand Curling Association in 2021, having been an executive member since 2002. She was a foundation member and has been secretary of the Auckland Curling Club since 2005. She founded the Auckland Secondary Schools Curling Competition (ASSCC) and was youth development officer for North Island Curling from 2002 to 2021. In 2002, she initiated and has since convened the North Island Secondary Schools Curling Competition. She currently coaches wheelchair curlers for the expansion of the ASSCC.
Elizabeth has represented New Zealand internationally at 17 World Senior Curling Championships and two Asia Pacific Curling Championships. She has been on gold medal-winning teams in the New Zealand mixed and women’s competitions. She has coached New Zealand teams for a number of international competitions, and has umpired at Asia Pacific Curling Championships. She has been recognised with several awards for her contributions to curling, including an International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Achievement Diploma in 2012.
Harriet Bennett Allan, Beach Haven, for services to the publishing industry
Harriet Allan has worked as a publisher championing New Zealand literature and many of the country’s most recognised writers in a career spanning 35 years.
Harriet emigrated to New Zealand from the UK 1986. She worked for a medical publisher, then Oxford University Press before joining Century Hutchinson, which became Random House and subsequently Penguin Random House. She has supported new writers through mentoring, giving talks and involvement in the Sunday Star Times’ short story competition and the Michael King Writers Centre. She has developed and nurtured numerous well-known New Zealand writers including Dame Fiona Kidman, Owen Marshall and Fiona Farrell, and supports Māori writing including working with Patricia Grace and Tina Makereti. Since 2009 she has worked with Witi Ihimaera, publishing several of his works, and in 2017 she championed the publication of ‘Black Marks on the White Page’, an Oceanic anthology edited by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti, and followed it with several other significant anthologies of Māori writing, including ‘Pūrākau’. Dozens of the writers she has supported have been recognised with national and international literary awards.
Roslyn Aileen Hiini, Glenfield, , for services to women and the union movement
Roslyn Hiini is a founding member of the Working Women’s Resource Centre (WWRC), established in 1985 to encourage unions to be more responsive to the needs of working women and address gender discrimination, and through WWRC has advocated for working women and their working conditions. Through WWRC she also helped archive the history of working women by creating a poster series titled ‘What Working Women Have Done’ to ensure future generations are aware of the history of women’s working conditions.
Roslyn became a union organiser in 1989 and as part of a union negotiating team successfully negotiated a collective agreement for all retail workers in the Deka retail chain, and supported women to become union members. She was actively involved in several equal pay and pay equity initiatives including the Care and Support Workers’ Settlement in 2017 and the amendment to the Equal Pay Act in 2018. She was also involved in campaigning for paid parental leave.
For more than 20 years, she has been involved as board secretary, in funding initiatives and in events, with the Hunger Project, which runs programmes across Africa, South Asia and Latin America to tackle hunger at the source through women, mobilising communities and engaging with government.
Joan Knight, Beach Haven, for services to the environment
Jo Knight has been contributing to the environment in Kaipātiki for 40 years. In 2016 she was instrumental in the establishment of the Pest Free Kaipātiki Restoration Society (PFK) which works to restore the natural environment, remove pests and build awareness of the community’s natural heritage, and served as chair and board member until 2023.
She has researched viable methodologies for environmental regeneration and implemented an evidence-based programme, Halo, an invisible fence around parks and reserves empowering communities to bait and trap pests. Halos have encouraged people of all ages to participate, create safe environments for birds, and plant natives to protect remaining forest areas. Under Joan’s leadership PFK has planted more than 32,000 trees, controlled more than 4,000 pest weed locations and distributed 2,000 pest control devices. In 2020-2021 she was instrumental in the fundraising and restoration of a building for the PFK headquarters; this project resulted in an estimated 55 tonnes of rubbish diverted from landfill.
Joan was CEO of Zero Waste New Zealand Trust from 2006 until 2023 and has been the coordinator of the Odin/Hadfield Reserve since 1982, helping plant hundreds of plants and remove pests to turn the reserve into the wetland it is now.
[Sidebar to be included if room:]
Any member of the public can nominate someone they believe deserves a New Zealand Royal Honour. A team of three in the Cabinet Office collates around 800 to 1000 nominations received for the two Royal Honours rounds each year. Based on the information supplied by the nominator, the committee looks at the nominee’s length of service, sphere of influence and the nature of their achievements compared to others and creates short citations about each nominee. The submissions from the past six months are presented to the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee chaired by the Prime Minister and a shortlist is then sent to the Governor-General for approval. From there, the committee approaches those on the list, asking if they will accept the honour before the Prime Minister sends the final list to the King. A small number of people decline, perhaps because they feel their achievements are part of a team effort, or because they don’t wish to have the profile associated with an award. Those who accept are, of course, required to keep the news confidential until the day of the announcement.
