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Sir Peter Beck

Breakthroughs in space travel are standard fare for Rocket Lab, the pioneering satellite-launch business started by New Zealand rocket enthusiast Peter Beck in 2006. In 2009, it became the Southern Hemisphere’s first private company to reach space.

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Dame Whina Cooper

Māori have a long history of activism against land confiscations at the hands of the Crown, which broke many promises of modern New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840. Two such protest movements are the Land March of 1975 and occupation of Takaparawhau Bastion Point during 1977 and 1978 – powerful events that forever changed the course of life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay

The first successful summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mt Everest (or Chomolungma, as the Tibetans call her), inextricably linked two people: Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. The pair were brought together as part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.

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Te Awa Tupua

In 2017, a remarkable thing happened. A river in Aotearoa New Zealand was recognised as a legal person, Te Awa Tupua, to accord with the indigenous Māori understanding of the river as an ancestor, with defined values for care, use, and protection of the river stemming from te ao Māori, the Māori worldview.

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Kate Sheppard & Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia

Aotearoa New Zealand led the world in legislating for women to have the right to vote, but it was not an easy pathway. These two women made key Suffragists contributions to this fight.

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Helen Clark

Helen Clark was New Zealand’s 37th Prime Minister and went on to become the first woman to lead the United Nations Development Programme. In 2011, she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand, the country’s highest honour that is limited to just 20 living members. She is no stranger to breaking the glass ceiling and the gender barrier, and her achievements continue to be an inspiration to women all over the world.