Patron

Rt. Hon. Sir Don McKinnon ONZ, GCVO,
a Member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1978 to 2000, Sir Don has held the positions of Senior Whip, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Minister of Pacific Island Affairs and Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control. He oversaw New Zealand's election to the UN Security Council.

During his time as New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Don had been highly involved with the Commonwealth. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1999 (CHOGM), in Durban, he was elected to the office of Secretary General, a position he held from 2000 to 2008.

Immediate Past Patron & Honary Advisor

Mick Brown,
as Judge Michael Brown is universally known, was New Zealand’s first Principal Youth Court Judge from 1980 to 1995. He was on the University of Auckland Council for 15 years and was university chancellor from 1986 to 1991. He is adjunct professor of law at Waikato University and was director of the programme for Te Matahauariki Research Institute of the University of Waikato, the former institute that examined the links between Maori customary law and New Zealand jurisprudence. Judge Brown is on the selection panel for the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards is patron of the Chamberlain Park Golf Club (Inc) and a vice-patron the Auckland Cricket Association. In 2007, Judge Brown was invited to give the inaugural Anzac Day address initiated by Maori Television as part of their all-day Anzac Day coverage.

Trustees (New Zealand War Graves Trust):

Terry Snow
has been a journalist for more than 30 years and is a former editor of the Listener. He is currently editor of The Shed magazine, and has been contract editor of MQ, the quarterly magazine of Auckland War Memorial Museum where the database of the New Zealand War Graves Trust will be housed. He is on the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand.

Simon Wei
specialises in System administration, Network administration, Security, Internet hosting and development. He has eight years experience in the IT industry, worked with EDS, Telecom, Datacom, Air New Zealand, University of Auckland, and a few computer hardware companies. Started an internet security company in 2003, and is working to develop the next generation of Internet security devices.

Rebecca Macky
is a resource management lawyer with more than 20 years experience in Queensland and New Zealand. Currently running her own practice, she is a former partner of the law firm Bell Gully. In 1992 she was co-founder and subsequently president of the Resource Management Law Association, of which she is now an honorary life member. She is also an Executive Committee member of Ranfurly Veterans' Home & Hospital, and a director of Brigadier Tours Limited, which takes small groups to places where New Zealanders fought in World Wars I and II.

Her great uncle Lieutenant-Colonel N L (Polly) Macky was commander of 21 battalion in Greece in World War II and, on the other side of her family, her great uncle Lieutenant-Colonel John Allen assumed command of that Battalion in Crete, when Macky was invalided home. Allen was killed at Sidi Rezegh (Libya) and is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, outside Tobruk.

Dennis Kerins
works in the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Auckland as a multimedia designer. He has been the editor of the Journal Review Service (published in the New Zealand Family Physician) for the last 13 years. Through Askance Digital Design he has designed, created, and maintained web sites and has considerable experience in digital image manipulation, web site design and structures, graphic design, educational design and writing. His Uncle, William (Bill) Gordon Bain, was killed at Galatas (Crete), and is buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery, Crete.

Derrick Bunn
is a photographer, videographer, video editor and audio engineer notably as Studio Manager at the Flexible Learning Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, where he produced learning materials for post-graduate medical students. Currently runs his own business and has lived in the UK, East Africa, and, since 1987, New Zealand.

Don Milne
Don Milne graduated with a master's degree in chemistry from Canterbury
University but spent his working life as a journalist, first with The Press in Christchurch and then (for 37 1/2 years) with The New Zealand Herald in Auckland.

Among his many positions on the Herald was, initially, science correspondent - the first in New Zealand – then political editor, editorial manager, and finally deputy and associate editor for 12 1/2 years. His interest in the education of journalists saw him serve some 20 years on the council of the Journalists Training Organisation, nearly half of it as chair. He had a 30-year association with the journalism department of the Auckland University of Technology, as member and chair of the journalism advisory committee and, following retirement from active journalism, occasional part-time teaching.

An early recipient of an award for notable service to the New Zealand
Journalists Association, Don was a prime mover in the adoption of the
Association’s first code of ethics. Since retirement he has served for several years as a judge of the annual Qantas print media awards.

With a father in the RNZAF before, during and after the Second World War, he
spent some of his early years on station at Wigram and has retained an interest in defence matters since.

Denis McLean CMG
Denis Mclean was born in Napier, educated at Nelson College and Victoria University of Wellington (MSc in Geology), Oxford University (MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics) where he was a Rhodes Scholar, 1954, and at the Royal College of Defence London, 1972

In employment with the then Department of External Affairs (1957- 79) he received postings to Washington, Paris, Kuala Lumpur and London (Deputy High Commissioner). He was Secretary of Defence, Wellington 1979-88 and NZ Ambassador to the United States, 1991-95. Has been a Guest / Visiting Scholar at: Strategic & Defence Studies Centre, ANU, Canberra and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the US Institute of Peace (all in Washington DC) and Warburg Professor in International Relations, Simmons College, Boston 1995-98.

His books include The Long Pathway, Te Ara Roa (William Collins, 1985); Peace Operations and Common-Sense, (US Institute of Peace,1996); The Prickly Pair, Making Nationalism in Australia and New Zealand (Otago University Press, 2003); Pathways to Adventure, An Extraordinary Life, in collaboration with Major General W B (Sandy) Thomas CB, DSO, MC & bar (Dryden Press, Christchurch, 2004); Howard Kippenberger : Dauntless Spirit (Random House, 2008).

He is a Public Member of the NZ Press Council, Chair of the Wellington Regional Trust of Te Araroa Trust (for establishment of a walkway the length of NZ); member, Committee, Wellington Branch, NZ Institute of International Affairs and a member of the Executive Management Committee, QE II Army Museum, Waiouru.

Denis is married to Anne, a Scot born in Argentina and they have three children -   a doctor (Medical Officer of Health, Wellington); a partner in Wellington firm, Story Inc!, specialising in exhibition design and display; and a partner in the New York law firm of White & Case, based in London – and ten extraordinarily gifted and handsome grandchildren.

Advisory Trustee, ex officio.

Dr Vanda Vitali – Director, Auckland War Memorial Museum
For the past five years, Dr Vitali has been Vice President of Public Programmes and Director of Content Development at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Dr Vitali is internationally recognised for her innovative approach to exhibits and programming. She places a strong emphasis on accessibility and public engagement to create compelling experiences for visitors of all ages and interests. She believes that museums should inspire more, and as a result motivate people to learn. Her exhibitions are influenced by current issues in science, culture and art and are known for reshaping the intellectual agenda of museums. Along with her significant work in programming and exhibitions, Dr Vitali has considerable curatorial experience in both research and collections.

Contact Details:

Postal Address:

New Zealand War Graves Trust
16 Beauchamp Drive
Massey
Waitakere
New Zealand

Telephone:

64 9 8333 223

E-mail:

nzwargraves@slingshot.co.nz