NZer of the Year
Our countdown begins
Eva McGauley
Eva McGauley was a fighter.
She fought for a better world, selflessly throwing all of her energy into stopping sexual violence and supporting survivors.
The young Wellingtonian became a member of the Wellington Rape Crisis centre at 13, and later raised more than $70,000 for a sexual abuse assistance programme, and even set up her own charity, Eva’s Wish.
But while she spent much of her life fighting for others, she had an even bigger battle of her own.
When Eva was 15, she was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare type of head and neck cancer. It was terminal.
Rather than let her illness define her, the Wellington teen continued to fight for others, continuing her charity and advocacy work, and in doing so becoming an inspiration in New Zealand and around the world.
In May she attended a New York exhibition as one of the subjects of the book 200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World,
appearing with Kiwi national sexual violence survivor advocate Louise Nicholas, who called her a “hero”.
Eva was nominated this year in the youth category for Wellingtonian of the Year, and also met Prince Harry and Meghan during their recent royal tour of New Zealand.
This year even she started a bachelor of arts majoring in political science at Victoria University of Wellington.
In November Eva lost her cancer battle, but she won a war, inspiring a generation to carry on fighting sexual violence and supporting survivors.
Eva’s mum, Kate Hardwick, said her daughter would have been thrilled at the New Zealander of the Year nomination. “I am really proud, slightly in awe, of Eva. She knew who she was, and what she wanted.
“She was able to translate that into action, and because of her skills and the networks she built, she was actually able to do something, to walk the walk,” Hardwick said. “Everybody who knew her, misses her.”
James Kendrick
It was 4pm in the middle of winter but James Kendrick didn’t think twice when he saw a Palmerston North Girls High School player go down after being injured in a tackle during the game he was refereeing.
He lay down next to her on the cold, wet paddock wearing only shorts and a t-shirt and held her neck still while calming her down.
There the Dannevirke man stayed for an hour until the rescue helicopter arrived to fly her to Middlemore Hospital.
His actions drew praise and admiration from spectators and players.
“It was a cold day and it was getting dark. I was absolutely gobsmacked by his response and, in my mind, that girl owes her life to him and on that day James was my hero,” spectator Jinny Kean said at the time.
But to Kendrick, a St John first responder and member of the Dannevirke Volunteer Fire Brigade, he was only doing what he hoped anyone would do.
Being nominated as a finalist was humbling, he told the Herald.
“I just happened to be the ref on the day, I had the skills. At the end of the day I was singled out but I couldn’t have done it without the help of the rest of the people there on that day.”
As for the injured player, she had made a full recovery and was planning to play rugby again next year, Kendrick said.
She has left a legacy and I hope our young people will be inspired to carry it on.
Eva McGauley’s mother Kate Hardwick
Anne-Marie Brady
Anne-Marie Brady never intended to be in the limelight. And then the burglaries began.
A professor of Chinese politics at the University of Canterbury, over the past decades she’d quietly built up an international reputation as one of the world’s leading experts on Chinese propaganda.
She gained public notice in September last year with the publication of her paper “Magic Weapons”, illustrating a nexus of party donations and board appointments linking China’s United Front Work Department and New Zealand political figures.
The paper put Brady at the centre of the defining global question of the age — What does the rise of China mean for the world? — and she’s since been flown to Ottawa, Washington DC, London, and further afield, to discuss her findings.
That paper also seems to have attracted unwanted attention, with first visits to China in late 2017 seeing her hotel room being interfered and sources harassed by staff from the ministry of state security. Then, in February, and within the space of two days, her home and office on campus in Christchurch were both ransacked. Material related to her research — computers, phones, storage devices — were taken in burglaries that seemed intentionally unsubtle.
Reached this week, Brady said the attention and resulting publicity had made for an uncomfortable ride, but she was now feeling optimistic.
“It’s been 18 months and it’s been, wow, how can I put this: It was really overwhelming at first, and really scary,” she said.
It was only by her going public in February that authorities took seriously her concerns that these burglaries might not be petty crimes.
After police initially closed the case within days citing a lack of evidence, what began as a simple review of a suburban burglary in Christchurch has since sprawled into a multi-agency investigation that has so far spanned 10 months and involves the police, the NZ Security Intelligence Service and Interpol.
Given the involvement of the latter two agencies, her suspicions the events were directed offshore, in response to her work, seems justified.
Brady said being named a finalist for New Zealander of the Year was important, and gratefully received.
“Oh gosh yes. I’ve been so touched and overwhelmed by the amazing support I’ve received from New Zealanders in all sorts of roles.”
And, once her life began to resemble a Le Carre novel did she ever consider quietening down? “Of course not. All I’m doing is my job — and I haven’t deviated from that.”
Jessica Manning
For 25-year-old Jessica Manning, petitioning the Government to make organ donation mandatory was more than a campaign to tackle the low number of donors in New Zealand.
Her controversial move could have been the difference between life and death for her and many others waiting for transplants.
Even the Prime Minister stepped into the conversation. Jacinda Ardern said while she supported an increase in the number of donors, compulsion was not the way to do it.
But speaking out in August seems to have paid off for Manning and many others. New Zealand had a record number of transplants this year — which helped Manning get her call up for a heart and liver transplant in early September.
After a dramatic 20-hour surgery and 53 days in intensive care at Auckland City Hospital, she is now at home and recovering.
Manning is pleased she started the tough conversation around mandatory organ donation in August, even if it was just to have family members tell each other their own wishes if an accident did happen.
“It was 50/50 — people were either negative about it or positive about it but it still got people to talk whether they were donors or not. I think that’s why there are so many more donors this year because people had actually talked about it.”
Quinton Hita
Quinton Hita’s face might be best known from his days on Shortland
Street, but his lasting legacy will be his leading role in the on-screen revival of Ma¯ ori language and culture.
This year, his company Kura Productions made the conversation provoking documentary on suicide
Maui’s Hook and the ground-breaking bilingual drama series Ahikaroa, which has already been commissioned for a second season. Like all Kura’s shows, they have Ma¯ ori development at their core.
“I get into trouble sometimes because people assume that for me it’s all about the love of film and television, but I’m quite honest about the fact that I’m passionate about Ma¯ ori development and I’m not particularly fussed if I’m able to do that in the health sector, the education sector or the media sector.”
He sees his primary role as nurturing young people, being a role model and acting as kaitakawaenga — mediator — between the liberal and traditional sides of Ma¯ oridom.
When he talks about his year’s successes, his focus is as much on his work as chair of his children’s kura kaupapa and of his marae, O¯ korihi, as it is on his more high-profile screen work. “Although the television aspect of it is important, it’s a tool,” he says. “And part of a much richer tapestry of culture.”