Seven Southlanders have received New Years Honours for their services covering sport, community, Maori, conservation and agricultural science.

Mr Malcom McKee

Malcom McKee of Waikaia becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to sport.

McKee has volunteered as a sporting and community administrator both at community and national levels for more than 30 years.

As well as being a Board member and Treasurer, he has served as the Chairman or President for 17 groups including the Waikaia Domain Board for more than 22 years, Show Jumping New Zealand for six years, and Southland Country Rugby Club for seven years.

MeKee has volunteered his time as an Equestrian Sports New Zealand Show Jumping Judge for 29 years.

In 2011 he gained international accreditation and has officiated at 21 FEI World Cup Competitions, the highest level of competition and part of the World Championship and Olympic Games qualifying system.

He was a member of the Waikaia Volunteer Brigade for 26 years, serving as the Deputy Chief Fire Officer from 2005 to 2006.

His involvement in the rugby community has seen him act as the Northern Southland Junior and Senior rugby delegate for more than 30 years, coach junior rugby for 11 years, and he sat on the Rugby Southland Board Selection Panel for more than 14 years.

Mrs Gail Thompson

Gail Thompson of Bluff becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to Māori and conservation.

Thompson (Ngāi Tahu) has been a leader, advocate, and mentor for Ngāi Tahu whānui and in conservation.

She has been Manager of Awarua Runaka since the early 2000s, providing leadership in fisheries management, particularly the customary fisheries area and restoration of mahinga kai and mātaitai takiwa around the Southland coastline.

Thompson was Te Runanga o Awarua representative to Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu from 2017 to 2023.

She was also a founding member of Guardians of Fiordland Fisheries in 1997 and has led work that enabled establishment of several marine protected areas.

Thompson has been influential across a wide range of governance and advisory group roles, including more than 20 years on the Southland Conservation Board and long-standing membership on Kaitiaki Rōpū, providing mana whenua views to the Department of Conservation (DOC). She has contributed leadership to conservation projects including Predator Free Rakiura and the South-East Marine Protection Forum.

She advocates for Ngāi Tahu access to taonga species and materials, particularly feathers and bone, for continued customary cultural use such as weaving korowai.

She has led Korowai Wānanga at Te Rau Aroha Marae since 2010.

In 2018, Thompson was a founding member and co-chair from 2021 of what is now Whakamana Te Waituna, and was instrumental to restoration of the Waituna Lagoon and surrounding wetland areas.

Dr Robyn Dynes

Dr Robyn Dynes, formally of Southland but now resident in Christchurch, becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to agricultural science.

Dynes is a farming systems scientist who has shaped more sustainable agricultural practices in New Zealand.

Dynes has a family background farming in Southland, and following her graduation from Lincoln University, she worked for 14 years at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Animal Production in Western Australia.

In 2004 she started working at AgResearch in Lincoln where she has held various roles, becoming the Principal Scientist and Farmer Engagement Specialist in 2024.

She is a member on several boards and advisory groups, including with the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) and Southern Dairy Hub from 2017, Beef and Lamb New Zealand since 2015, and Lincoln University Dairy Farm.

She is an AgResearch representative on Southern Dairy Hub Research Advisory Group.

She actively supports further education through mentorship, leadership programmes, and hosting students.

She was instrumental in the facilitation of the Everything to Gain event in 2022, an AgResearch partnership with Thriving Southland, and the Whitiwhiti Ora Land Use Sustainability Programme.

She won the 2022 Sir Arthur Ward Trophy and in 2023 became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science.

In 2025, Dr Dynes won the Bledisloe Medal, Lincoln University’s highest accolade, only the fourth woman to receive it in 95 years.

Mrs Liz Henry

Liz Henry of Invercargill has received the King's Service Medal (KSM) for services to the community and sport.

Henry is the founder and current Event Director of the Invercargill parkrun event, where hundreds of people meet weekly to run or walk a scenic park course, as well as a national parkrun Ambassador - providing mentorship and sponsored defibrillators for newly established events in other New Zealand towns.

Henry sponsors the annual Murihiku Women’s duathlon as well as kit for the local men’s football club.

An Age Concern Southland Board member since 2008, and its Chair since 2019, Henry has since 2023 been on the Board of Age Concern New Zealand where she heads the Risk Committee and is currently Vice President.

Other roles have included the Surrey Park Early Learning Centre Incorporated Governance Committee and supporting the Green Light Innovations projects.

Henry also supports local soup kitchens and families in need by donating vegetables grown on her law firm’s premises.

A past ILT Southland Sports Awards and BDO Administrator of the Year recipient, Henry said she was truly grateful and a bit blown away by the honour.

"Invercargill is special because people turn up, pitch in, and lift each other up."

"When we awhi one another, we strengthen wellbeing and social connection."

"I love getting my bucket filled every Saturday at parkrun."

"Being part of a community built on a free 5k run or walk, inclusive, and built on connection."

"It’s a tangible representation of community in action, where friendships grow and everyone belongs."

"This recognition belongs to everyone who cheers, volunteers, and offers a hand when it’s needed."

Mrs Ruth Shaw

Ruth Shaw of Manapouri has received the King's Service Medal (KSM) for services to conservation.

Shaw has been an active environmental advocate for more than 60 years.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Shaw assisted with rat eradication on Hawea and Breaksea Islands, serving in varied roles, including occasional boat skipper.

Ruth Shaw outside her 'Wee Book Show' in Manapouri. Photo: Alina Suchanski/Southland App

In 1984 she protested the removal of mature, native trees in Manapouri.

She was actively involved in the Save Fiordland campaign that defeated a proposal to construct a monorail access through Fiordland National Park. In 1989, she joined Earth Trust’s fight to ban drift netting in Southern oceans.

She was awarded the National Eco Tourism Award twice for her business Fiordland Ecology Holidays.

Together with her husband they established the Breaksea Conservation Fund to finance environmental projects, including the removal of all predators from Pomona and Rona Islands in Lake Manapouri, allowing the Haast tokoeka kiwi to be introduced.

She co-created and co-chaired the Fiordland Sewage Options group to oppose the Southland District Council’s plan to discharge semi-treated sewage onto land beside the Te Anau-Manapouri Airport, and helped to shape the Te Anau-Manapouri Water Scheme.

She owns the Three Wee Bookshops in Manapouri and donates part of her income to the Forest and Bird Society and the Low Vision/Blind Society.

Shaw’s 2022 memoir, ‘The Bookseller at the End of the World’ has become an international bestseller.

Mr Russel Trow and Ms Tee Trow

Russel and Tee Trow, both of Bluff, each received the King's Service Medal (KSM) for services to wildlife conservation.

Russel Trow (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Hapu Rakiura) and his wife Tee have both contributed to the restoration and protection of native biodiversity on Kundy Island, and other islands that are part of the Tītī Island group around Rakiura, since the 1980s.

The Trows spearheaded the removal of the invasive weka, who threatened local taonga species populations.

The removal of weka was completed in conjunction with the Wildlife Service by 1986, creating a safe environment for the reintroduction of native species including the tīeke (saddleback), matata (fernbird), and meaweka (banded rail).

They have been instrumental in community efforts to make the islands rat free also.

Their bird transfer programme has seen Kundy Island become a vital source for repopulating other islands, including Ulva Island and several locations in Fiordland.

They have developed expert bird-catching techniques, maintained detailed records to monitor species success, and continue to lead new initiatives, such as successful tīeke transfers to mainland sanctuaries like Orokonu in 2025.

They conducted pioneering genetic mixing of tīeke populations between islands.

The Trows have built relationships through a collaborative model, working with government agencies and local whānau with mātauranga Māori practices, which influenced the return of former Crown Tītī Islands to iwi management.

CLICK HERE for a full list on New Years Honours recipients.