OUR HEROES
Today we celebrate the incredible stories of 10 New Zealanders who have changed the country in 2019
They’re the people who inspired us and made a difference. Some acted bravely in a single moment, others have given a lifetime of service to an important cause. And a couple put a smile on our faces in a year when we really needed something to feel good about.
The list of 10 people below is the
Herald’s pick of candidates for the People’s Choice edition of Our Heroes 2019. The Herald has had a proud record for more than 25 years of saluting the people we value most and Our Heroes is a new way of acknowledging them that builds on that tradition.
Our list covers a wide range of achievements because we believe heroism can take many forms. Now it’s up to you to make the final selection and vote for the person here that you think most deserves the award this year. You can read their individual stories and use the voting form at nzherald.co.nz/vote to cast your vote by midnight Wednesday.
The People’s Choice winner will be announced along with Herald editors’ own choice for Our Heroes 2019 in the
Weekend Herald and on nzherald.co.nz next Saturday.
Hamish Walker
It was 7.30 am on New Year’s Day when Hamish Walker and fiancee Penny Tipu had driven out of Lake Hawea township in search of a good place for a walk.
They were having a few days away before their wedding on January 5.
Walker was driving over the top of the dam when Penny alerted him to a man on a ledge below who looked ready to jump into the heaving water.
Walker approached, careful not to scare him.
“Gidday mate, you don’t look too flash up there,” he said and climbed over the safety fence to join him on the ledge.
Walker, the first-term MP for Clutha-Southland, says he is reasonably good under pressure, having worked as the jailer in the Dunedin police station and a former first-class rugby referee.
“You’ve got 30 players yelling at you, captains yelling at you, coaches yelling at you, managers yelling at you, assistant referees in your ear, you’re live on TV and you just learn how to deal with your emotions.”
They talked about the man’s family, his loving parents, and what would happen to his child without him.
“I said, ‘I’m not gonna leave you here mate. If you are jumping in, I’m following in with you.’”
Walker promised to get the man safely back to his family, and they left the ledge together.
Walker has not seen him since but it affected him deeply.
“For the next four days I just felt completely numb.”
Hamish and Penny were married and are expecting their first baby early next year.
Jazz Thornton
Nine months after she made an online video series about suicide, Jazz Thornton still gets daily messages telling her she’s saved someone’s life.
“There’s been literally thousands of them,” she tells the Herald. “It’s just had this massive turnaround effect on people.”
Jessica’s Tree, a five-part NZ On Airfunded series directed and fronted by Thornton and screened on nzherald.co.nz, examines why her friend Jess took her life in 2015 and what her suicide can teach us.
It was made with the participation of Jess’ family and friends.
“The whole series is about helping people understand what it is to be suicidal and then what you can do to help,” said Thornton when it was released in March.
“I don’t want people to watch this and 20 minutes later move on with their lives. I don’t think you can watch this and not change the way you think.”
The series won best web series at the New Zealand TV Awards last month and has won accolades at overseas festivals, including best woman film-maker at the Barcelona Planet Film Festival.
Life since has been a whirlwind for Thornton, who has addressed the United Nations General Assembly and been to Buckingham Palace to talk mental health strategy with Heads Together, the mental health campaign co-ordinated by Prince William and
Prince Harry.
She has a book out early next year, followed by a documentary film that traces her journey. Plus there’s a new project she says she can’t talk about yet — but it promises to take the message of Jessica’s Tree to an even bigger international audience.
Josh Thompson
When a clown mimed crying in a redundancy meeting earlier this year, he laid bare the pantomime that underpins these meetings. Everyone knew how this would go. Papers would be handed over, formalities would be addressed and farewells would be said.
Josh Thompson, the ad guy invited into that meeting room, knew from the outset that things would not end well. He would essentially be little more than another extra in the familiar redundancy show playing out across corporate New Zealand. Thompson wasn’t satisfied with being a bit player in his own career story, so he took matters into his own hands by dragging a handsomely paid clown into the meeting with him.
It was a mischievously creative moment that would see the power shifted back into his favour.
A grainy photograph, taken from outside the meeting room, quickly travelled from a Herald newsroom around the world. And a moment that was meant to be a sombre, private affair became an international sensation.
“It felt a bit like you were getting to see something you shouldn’t see,” says Paul Shale, the CEO at Thompson’s former place of work FCB. “It was really interesting to see that viral surge take it around the world and then have it dovetail back to radio in New Zealand before eventually getting killed on Reddit.”
The point here is that a genius bit of creativity captured on a shoddy smartphone camera can sometimes go a long way. And for his willingness to rip up the usual script, Thompson was rewarded with a new job at another major local ad agency.
Pania Newton
Media coverage may have made her the focus of the land and culture struggle at Ihuma¯tao, but Pania Newton wants only to deflect recognition to those around her.
“This is theirs, to the people who have put in thousands of hours for the land,” she said of being included in the Herald’s Our Heroes list.
Every movement though, needs a leader, however reluctant.
She was there back in 2015, while at law school, when with five of her cousins they started SOUL (Save Our Unique Landscape) to stop Fletcher building nearly 500 homes near Ihuma¯tao Village.
She was there at the United Nations, rallying international support for indigenous rights.
And she has been on the whenua throughout, lobbying the government, the Auckland Council, and Fletcher.
She was there on July 23 this year, when hundreds of police officers arrived, as Fletcher delivered an eviction notice.
Thousands joined from across the country, and as pressure mounted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called a halt to the development until a settlement – supported by all parties – was reached.
Along with finally gaining momentum for their cause, the movement — regarded as this generation’s Bastion Point — has proven a lightning rod for a national discussion around Ma¯ori rights and the Treaty settlement process.
“It has been amazing to be part of this historical moment, to see all of the public get behind it,” said Newton.
Veyda-Blu Toko-Gaylor
Veyda-Blu Toko-Gaylor instinctively knew what to do when her father slumped at the wheel of their car as they drove along a 100kmh road.
The 10-year-old Hamilton girl immediately grabbed the steering wheel after witnessing dad Reuben Gaylor have a seizure and pass out.
As Gaylor’s foot slipped off the accelerator Veyda-Blu was able to guide the car to a halt on the side of State Highway 39 in the Waikato on February 8.
“It was just my first instinct to put my hand on the wheel and keep it steady,” said Veyda-Blu, who had not previously seen her dad having a seizure.
“The roads were bendy but as the car was slowing down I was able to pull us over to the side.”
The car struck a glancing blow on the side of a bridge before Veyda-Blu called 111.
“I called the ambulance, which is something I’ve learnt to do at school.”
While waiting for the ambulance Veyda-Blu called her mother and calmly explained the situation.
She then called Gaylor’s brother in Pirongia and explained the ambulance was on its way and everything was fine.
When emergency services arrived she relayed her father’s details, his previous history of seizures and exactly what had happened.
Veyda-Blu’s mum, Tarryn Toko, said she was proud of the maturity her daughter showed in the life or death situation.
“She saw her father having a seizure . . . and I think about just how scary that is for an adult to witness,” Toko said.
“For her to see that for the first time and push through that and show the maturity to take the wheel and bring the car to a safe stop, that is just incredible bravery.”
Blair Vining
It takes an extraordinary person to be told they’re dying of cancer and then spend every living moment left benefiting those around them — but that’s who Blair Vining was.
The father of two was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in October last year and was given three months to live. He was then told to wait eight weeks for an “urgent appointment” with an oncologist but put up a fight and was seen almost immediately.
As a result, he lived to see his youngest daughter, Lilly, become a teenager; see his eldest daughter, Della-May, flourish in her role as head girl; and renew his wedding vows with wife Melissa.
But there was one itch the 38-yearold couldn’t let go — a “broken health system”.
Vining launched New Zealand’s biggest-ever cancer petition, gaining
150,000 signatures, calling on the Government to set up a cancer agency to end “postcode lottery” care, which varied wildly across the country.
He lived to see his final wish come to fruition when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister David Clark announced the establishment of a national cancer agency on September 1.
Vining died on October 10. Melissa said if her husband was still alive he would have said: “I’m just an ordinary guy doing what anyone would do.”
“But to us there was nothing ordinary about his love for life, family, friends and New Zealanders.
“His unique positive outlook and courage to fight for us and New Zealand while he was fighting for his life will bring us comfort, hope and pride for the rest of our days.”
Auckland Zoo staff and volunteers
Years of patient ka¯ka¯po¯ breeding nearly came unstuck this year when a breakout of fungal infection
“aspergillosis” in April threatened to wipe out much of the population on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island.
Auckland Zoo was quick to convert all available space into temporary pens and to set up an around-theclock feeding, cleaning and monitoring roster.
Since the breakout, zoo staff and volunteers spent 6000 hours and counting working to save as many ka¯ka¯po¯ as possible.
As of December 3, nine had died but the number could have been a lot higher, Dr James Chatterton said.
“We’ve had much more success than we dared hope for, particularly when we were in the thick of it,” he said.
Twenty-eight ka¯ka¯po¯ had been through the zoo for assessment since April, the most at any one time being 19.
Chatterton, Auckland Zoo’s veterinary services manager, said the outcome would not have been possible without the hard work of staff and volunteers.
A massive outpouring of public support was also hugely beneficial, he said.
It was humbling for the zoo staff and its volunteers to be recognised as an Our Heroes nominee in 2019, Chatterton added.
“It’s really nice to be thought of in those terms, it’s not something we expected and we certainly don’t do this because we want praise.
“It’s a privilege to work with ka¯ka¯po and have them around — hopefully we can help contribute to having them around for a lot longer.”
On July 29, Massey man Peter Simpson was driving home from dropping his kids at school when he saw what he thought was a woman lying injured after being hit by a car.
He pulled over to see if he could help and ended up being involved in one of the most high-profile arrests after an alleged murder in Auckland this year.
Just after 8.30am, a woman was stabbed multiple times on Westgate Drive and died soon after of her injuries.
Her ex-husband has been charged with her murder and is before the courts.
The alleged murderer has been granted interim name suppression, along with his former spouse and their son.
He is also charged with breaching a protection order.
“I happened to notice someone lying on the grass with two people on the footpath,” Simpson told the
Herald of the incident.
“I started talking to the victim and then she passed . . . there was a gentleman way up the road who said that the [alleged killer] was leaving.
“So I jumped in my car and left the site.”
Another member of the public pointed out the alleged killer and Simpson started to move towards the man’s car, slowly, in a bid to stop him leaving.
“I couldn’t do much where I was so I went to the next step and helped to apprehend the person,” he explained.
“I didn’t ram it, he ran into me — I slowed up to stop him and he drove into me.”
As a result of Simpson’s actions the man was arrested within minutes of the alleged murder.
Simpson later received the Waitemata¯ Police District Commander’s Certificate of Appreciation.
Dr Nikki Turner
The measles epidemic that swept the country this year came to demonstrate a simple truth: New Zealand’s health inequities are very real.
The outbreak, which, at its peak, affected hundreds in Auckland and elsewhere, was the result not of antivaccination agitators but a combination of historic and systemic problems with immunisation uptake.
Although New Zealand has moved some way towards reaching its national target of having 95 per cent of infants fully immunised by age 2, those challenges remain — especially evident among our poorest communities.
Trying to overcome them has been something of a lifelong mission for Associate Professor Nikki Turner, director of the University of Auckland’s Immunisation Advisory Centre.
From her tireless work in the public health sector and at the clinical frontline, to fronting for countless media interviews, Turner has helped to demystify the evidence behind immunisation and counter the many myths spread about it.
Sometimes, that profile has made her a target.
“I get really angry people writing really bitter mail — but I always think, there’s something behind their story,” she said. “What’s important, I think, is the common touch: if we can interact with each other and communicate, we can overcome the barriers to trust. Otherwise, that disconnect continues.”
Along with her role at IMAC, which she has helped develop since its inception in 1996, Turner has worked as a GP in Auckland and Wellington, and became health spokesperson for the independent charity Child Poverty Action Group.
She was reluctant to take any credit for her personal nomination for this award, saying it should instead be an acknowledgement of the hard work of lifting coverage rates by her peers in public health, clinics and hospitals.
Will “Egg Boy” Connolly
Will Connolly’s mother didn’t believe him when he called her and said he was out egging a politician.
But after the Australian teenager hung up, he slung a bag of eggs over the handlebars of his bike and cycled to go see controversial politician Fraser Anning after he blamed the Christchurch mosque attacks on immigration.
The teen’s initial satisfaction of crushing the egg against Anning’s skull was quickly cut short when the politician retaliated and repeatedly slapped the boy.
Later, with a swollen eye from the politician’s blows and and a sore neck from the following choke-hold, Connolly tweeted in defence of his actions and despite his looming arrest:
“This was the moment I felt so proud to exist as a human being. Let me inform all you guys, Muslims are not terrorists and terrorism has no religion. All those who consider Muslims a terrorist community have empty heads like Anning.”
Dubbed “Egg Boy”, Connolly suddenly became “the hero we all need” and two GoFundMe pages sprung up to raise money for his legal fees. Almost $100,000 was donated.
But Connolly said the money was never his to keep and donated it all to the victims of the attacks.
“I’m a teenager, what am I going to do with all that money?”
Being nominated for the Herald’s Our Heroes 2019 awards really touched Connolly, who said: “I can’t actually believe it.”
“I seriously almost teared-up.” Connolly will be in Christchurch in March for the memorial of the attacks.
It’s really nice to be thought of in those terms, it’s not something we expected and we certainly don’t do this because we want praise.
Dr James Chatterton