Southern Lakes Sanctuary co-chairs Dr Leslie Van Gelder and Greg Lind, former TalkLink CEO Ann Smaill, long-serving Wakatipu High School music teacher Alison Price and former Queenstown council’s communications boss Michele Poole were all recognised in this week’s King’s Birthday Honours.
Glenorchy’s Van Gelder was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to conservation and dark sky sanctuaries, and Smaill, of Arrowtown, became an ONZM for services to speech language therapy.
Price, also from Arrowtown, became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to education, while former Queenstowner Lind, who’s now based in Cromwell, received an MNZM for services to conservation and search and rescue.
Poole, who’s nowadays Fire and Emergency NZ’s (Fenz) senior regional communications and engagement adviser, was also made an MNZM for services to Fenz.
Van Gelder says as an immigrant to NZ from the United States, her recognition’s “incredibly humbling and emotional”.
‘‘None of the work I’ve been part of has ever been achieved alone.
‘‘It has always come through collaboration, shared purpose and the generosity of many extraordinary people and communities.”
Smaill, who’s spent more than 30 years dedicated to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which helps those who struggle to communicate verbally, says her recognition’s “a bit overwhelming”, but hopes it’ll shine a light on the work speech-language therapists do, and AAC technology.
“It’s an area that people don’t know a lot about, and it makes a huge difference to the people that we work alongside.’’
Lind, who retired from the Department of Conservation (DoC) in 2019 after a 32-year career, and also established the Queenstown Heritage Trust and the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust, says he’s worked in some of the most spectacular places in New Zealand alongside DoC rangers, iwi, conservation partners and communities.
“Seeing community-led conservation now achieving at such scale through initiatives like Southern Lakes Sanctuary is incredibly humbling.”
Price, Wakatipu High’s head of music since 2021, who also co-founded the Lakes Music School — now Turn up the Music Trust — says her honour recognises the “role of music and art” in education”, describing them as “a vehicle for so many other things”, such as teaching resilience and helping young people find their voices.
Poole, meanwhile, says she felt “really conflicted” about her honour.
‘‘When I look around me, there are people who put their lives on the line every day to rescue other people in an emergency.
‘‘I don’t see that I’m one of them.
‘‘But helping people understand what’s happening and giving them good, timely advice about what they can do, it can make a difference to people’s survival, and certainly it can reduce the distress that they feel if they can understand what’s happening and why it’s happening.”
