An award to acknowledge outstanding and enduring service to Eastwoodhill Arboretum - the national arboretum of New Zealand - has been made to Gisborne man Bob Berry by Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand.
Mr Berry said in his acceptance speech there was "a job still to be done" on keeping the inventory of trees in order at Eastwoodhill Arboretum, 135 hectares of exotic and native trees, shrubs and climbers located 40 minutes inland from Gisborne.
Sir Anand said the dream of Eastwoodhill's founder, Douglas Cook, lived on, thanks to the tireless devotion of arboretum supporters such as Mr Berry.
"His botanical knowledge, particularly of the oak species, and his quiet enthusiasm for the arboretum have been invaluable to Eastwoodhill's Trust Board and management," he said.
Through his interest in horticulture, Mr Berry became a regular visitor to Eastwoodhill. However, by the time of Mr Cook's death in 1967, he had become increasingly concerned at the lack of an accurate map and record of the plant and tree collection.
In 1971 he began the mammoth task of cataloguing the collection.
"This involved driving 60km to Eastwoodhill at least once a week and spending the day identifying plants and marking their position on a map."
Some of the plants had labels but many did not. So they had to be identified through research in Mr Berry's library of botanical books.
The field work took well over a year but the notes had to be collated into a detailed list, which included planting dates, tree measurements and general remarks.
The catalogue was published in 1972 and circulated to interested botanists in New Zealand and overseas.
The value of the collection soon became obvious, as notable plants people commented on the range of species it contained.
Many endorsed Mr Cook's vision of Eastwoodhill becoming a haven for threatened northern hemisphere species.
It was a turning point for Eastwoodhill.
The collection could now be assessed by botanists and government departments and this, in turn, enabled benefactor H.B. Williams to establish the Eastwoodhill Trust Board in 1975.
Mr Berry was appointed to the board, representing the Poverty Bay Horticultural Society. He has continued to attend board meetings.
A third-generation farmer, Mr Berry inherited Hackfalls -- a working sheep and cattle station in Tiniroto. There he grew alders, maples, cherries and magnolias, and used a different design approach to Eastwoodhill so the arboretum would not interfere with station life.
In 1953 Mr Berry met Mr Cook, who offered him advice and inspired him to carry on.
Both Mr Berry and his wife Lady Anne - herself a plant enthusiast who developed her own horticultural masterpiece, Rosemoor Garden in Devon, England - are passionate supporters of Eastwoodhill.
Lady Anne was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and in 1986 was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour - the highest award given by the society to people of British nationality.
Several speakers stressed that they could not name any of the people who had done so much for the national arboretum over the years without doing a disservice to many others, but there were two stars of the evening.
In presenting his citation, Sir Anand said Mr Berry's contribution to Mr Cook's legacy, spanning 40 years, had helped transform the arboretum from one man's private collection to a charitable trust preserved and developed for the people of New Zealand.
"Bob Berry is founder of Hackfalls Arboretum and one of Eastwoodhill's most treasured supporters," Sir Anand said.
Mr Berry said it was the environment of early last century - "with no rules, no regulations and no withering busybodies" - that helped Mr Cook make his dream a reality.
"In the end we are measured by our dreams, and our capacity to make them live," he said.
"Each of us has a choice - to live a life looking in, or to live a life looking out. A life that sees us committed to something outside ourselves. Something larger, bigger, grander. The two Cooks who found Gisborne exemplify such lives."
