Queen’s Service Medal for local
Recognition is for environmental, community efforts
My mother was a compulsive volunteer so it’s in my DNA. Volunteering is what holds communities together. Dianne Buchan, QSM
Dianne Buchan’s community and environmental efforts have followed her all the way from Whangārei to Otaki, ¯ and now it has led to her being awarded a Queen’s Service Medal* as part of the King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours 2023.
She has had such an impact on both the wider Wellington community and Whangārei, but one of her biggest highlights was leading the establishment of a branch of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in Whangārei in the 1980s.
Buchan said this led to the establishment of the first women’s refuge, the Women’s Centre, and the Rape Crisis Centre in Whangā rei, and it also led to a huge surge in the feminist movement in the far north.
“I know that changed the lives of a great many women and men for the better.”
Another highlight for Buchan was chairing the Wellington Civic Trust for seven years, where she worked with councillors, developers, architects, residents, and various interest groups.
“It kept me busy on top of my day job, but it was never boring.”
Buchan also spent 15 years involved in the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand, which she said was hugely rewarding.
“Through working with environmental practitioners from across Australia and New Zealand to improve the way we care for our air, land, and water, I personally have learned a great deal, but more importantly, seeing the quality of the young practitioners coming into the industry fills my heart with joy and hope.”
The latest of her feats was establishing the charitable trust to restore the rotunda building¯at the old Children’s Health Camp in Otaki, and she said seeing public support for the project grow has made all of the hard work worthwhile.
She also initiated the Riddiford Street Project (which led to the revitalisation of the Newtown shopping centre and Newtown Festival) and served as a trustee of the Otaki ¯ Museum, and she now co-chairs the working group that was established to integrate indigenous environmental knowledge into mainstream environmental practice.
Volunteering has always been important to Buchan.
She grew up in Alexandra, where she said volunteering was what made the town thrive.
“Everyone volunteered for at least one thing. My mother was a compulsive volunteer so it’s in my DNA.
“Volunteering is what holds communities together, it’s a great way to build friendships and can be richly rewarding — which is often not the case with our paid work.
“Papatūānuku (the land — Earth Mother) needs a lot of TLC these days and it gives me pleasure to know I’m helping with that as are my children and grandchildren.”
She wanted to thank her family and friends for sticking by her even though “more often than not, I’m too busy volunteering to spend time with them”.
* The Queen’s Service Order and its accompanying medal, the Queen’s Service Medal, is still named after the late Queen Elizabeth II this year, but will change name to the King’s Service Order and King’s Service Medal to acknowledge the new monarch, likely as part of the King’s Birthday Honours List 2024.