Cowley joins elite few with ONZ
Children’s author Joy Cowley has joined the small group of New Zealanders to be bestowed the country’s greatest honour.
The internationally acclaimed author, who has published more than 1000 books, many of which are read in 70 per cent of American schools, received the Order of New Zealand at Wellington’s Government House yesterday.
Cowley joins the group of 20 living New Zealanders to hold the Order and is the first of many to receive award honours this week.
Politicians Peter Dunne and Annette King, former Reserve Bank governor Grahame Wheeler and ‘‘Bugman’’ Ruud Kleinpaste will also receive accolades that were announced on New Year’s Day.
An all-female award ceremony will be held tomorrow, to celebrate 125 years since suffrage; during which, 16 women will receive various honours.
Featherston-based Cowley said receiving the country’s top honour gave her a ‘‘spacious feeling, that goes from Cape Reinga to Bluff’’.
Cowley recounted a previous trip to Government House, when she received an Order of the British Empire in 1992.
She was given that award by Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard, to which Cowley’s mother asked why the wife of the governor-general was conducting the ceremony. ‘‘She did not think a woman should be a governorgeneral. And I realise just how much our country has changed, how much the world has changed, since she was young.’’
Her particular ONZ medallion was previously worn by educator Clarence Beeby and good friend artist Cliff Whiting. ‘‘This holds the mana of both of those people. So it’s not just wearing something, it’s wearing the spirit of Beeby and Whiting as well.’’
Other Order of New Zealand members include former All Black captain Richie McCaw, opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and scientist Sir Peter Gluckman.
Cowley received the Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005, during a time when New Zealand had removed the titles of ‘‘Dame’’ and ‘‘Sir’’.
She declined to be given a title when the honours were restored in 2009, along with Witi IhimaeraSmiler and actor Sam Neill.
‘‘I didn’t want it to get in between me and the children I work with. They all call me Joy or Joy Cowley, and I’m not going to change that.’’
This year, Cowley was named a runner-up in the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen award.