People & Values

Sir Peter Blake

If there was ever a life cut cruelly short, it was that of Peter Blake: sailor, adventurer, environmentalist, and national icon. Just 53 when he was shot and killed by Brazilian pirates in 2001, Peter won many of the ultimate prizes in ocean sailing, raced around the world five times and won the adoration of a nation.

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Bill Gallagher

One of New Zealand’s greatest contributions to the world of agriculture came with the combination of two quite different technologies – fencing and electricity. Imagine a fence that did not rely on sheer strength for its effectiveness. This allows the fence to be light, and therefore easily portable. And a portable fence, easily moved around the farm, opens the way to revolutionise agriculture with brand-new grazing practices.

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Legacy Project

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Ernest Rutherford

In about 400 BC, the Greeks conjectured that the world was made up of tiny particles, invisible to the eye. Different combinations of these particles gave rise to the vastly different materials that we see around us in the world. They called these particles ‘atoms’ – the Greek word for ‘indivisible’.

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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.

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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.

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Legacy Project

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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.