All

Sir Harold Gillies, Sir Archibald McIndoe

For over 5,000 Allied soldiers in the fields of France, Belgium and other battlegrounds of World War I, luck was not on their side. Facial injuries – usually gunshot wounds – were all too common, and it fell to a young New Zealand-born surgeon to come up with a way to cope with the often-horrific results.

People & Values

Legacy Project

Watch

Beatrice Tinsley

Beatrice Tinsley (née Hill) was born in Chester, England, in 1941, the middle of three daughters born to Jean Morton and Edward Hill. She moved with her family to Christchurch in 1946, after the war. After four years in the South Island, the family moved to New Plymouth in 1950, where her father worked as a clergyman before being elected mayor of New Plymouth from 1953–1956. He subsequently served a term on the New Plymouth Borough Council from 1956–1959.

People & Values

Legacy Project

Watch

Jean Batten

Jean Batten was a pioneering aviator who gained international recognition for her record-breaking long-distance flights during the early years of aviation. Her fearless determination and exceptional solo flying skills earned her a place among the most celebrated pilots of her time and saw her dubbed the ‘Greta Garbo of the skies’ – a reference to one of the era’s most popular and glamorous movie stars.

People & Values

Legacy Project

Watch

Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Rhys Darby

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement (Ngāti Kahungunu) formed Flight of the Conchords in Wellington in 1998. They began working in the live comedy circuit around the country, where they quickly became (in their own words): “New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo.”

People & Values

Legacy Project

Watch

Georgina Beyer

Georgina Beyer (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Porou) was a world leader in so many ways. Born in Wellington on 17 September 1957, Georgie was assigned male at birth, and named after her paternal grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel George Bertrand, who was second in command in the Māori Battalion.

People & Values

Legacy Project

Watch

Dr Joe Hawke

Since 1881, Ngāti Whātua had been at the forefront of action over tribal land loss, hosting an assembly of Māori chiefs at Kohimarama. By 1900, their land holdings had diminished to Ōkahu Bay in Ōrākei, and the government and Auckland City Council were determined to remove them from there, building a sewerage pipe across the front of the village, and refusing to connect them to the city’s fresh water supply. But Ngāti Whātua would not leave. This was their whenua (land).