Four locals have been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The recipients are Liz Herrmann of Whitford for services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy; Bernadette Pereira of Howick for services to the Pacific community and women; Priscilla Dawson of Clevedon for services to refugees and the Burmese community and Neil McCorkindale of Eastern Beach for services to hockey administration.
Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List – local recipients:
Honorary Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
Elizabeth (Liz) Herrmann, Whitford
For services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy
Liz Hermann has been an owner of Jet Park Hotels for the past 22 years which she established with her partner in 1998 with the Jet Park Auckland Hotel and has philanthropically supported several charitable organisations. Jet Park Auckland Hotel was the supreme winner of the 2017 South Auckland Westpac Business Awards, the supreme winner of the 2014 Hospitality Award, the 2013 Environmental Initiative Award winner, and the 2011 New Zealand Culinary Restaurant of the Year. The Hotel was awarded a ‘four star plus’ Qualmark Enviro rating in 2019, reflecting its environmental sustainability. Mrs Hermann has been involved with the Auckland SPCA for more than 21 years. She has supported the John Walker Field of Dreams Foundation, Make a Wish New Zealand and Women’s Refuge through donations of goods and services. She has been a Trustee of the Pukeko Trust since 2008. Mrs Hermann and the Pukeko Trust have been principal sponsors of the Bob Kerridge Animal Welfare Trust since 2017, which provides annual grants to individual projects seeking changes to benefit animals, people and the environment.
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Tofilau Bernadette Barbara Pereira, Howick
For services to the Pacific community and women
Tofilau Bernadette Pereira is the National President of Pacifica, Inc., New Zealand’s fourth largest non-governmental organisation and has worked widely in the public sector and the community. Tofilau Bernadette has been a Community Development Practitioner for more than 30 years, working with and for communities to strengthen their capacity for community engagement. She was the inaugural President of the Pacifica Manukau Branch from 2013 to 2016 and the National Council of Women Manukau Branch from 2001 to 2005. She was the Pacific region’s youth representative on the governing body of the Commonwealth Youth Programme for three years. She represented the Pacific countries and territories for four years at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and led the largest delegation of Pacific women to the UN Fourth World Global Conference in 1995. She currently volunteers for the Cultural Advisory Committee of the Pacific Medical Association, the Korean Positive Ageing Charitable Trust and the Health Quality and Safety Consumer Commission. Tofilau Bernadette has volunteered for JOY International Folk Dancing and Social Services, the Auckland Catholic Diocese (Youth) and for the families and children of prisoners.
Queen’s Service Medal
Priscilla Maree Dawson, Clevedon
For services to refugees and the Burmese community
Priscilla Dawson has assisted asylum seekers from Myanmar as an interpreter for the Refugee Status Branch of Immigration New Zealand and the Refugee Status Appeals Authority since the 1980s. Mrs Dawson began working for Refugees as Survivors New Zealand in 2000, when the government began accepting refugees from Myanmar as part of the refugee quota system.
She was initially employed as an interpreter at the Mangere Resettlement Centre but soon became a qualified and experienced cross-cultural counselling and support person. Her services to all refugees, not only those from Myanmar, extended to providing assistance with education, housing, health, financial, employment, family and legal matters. She has helped family members in difficult domestic and relationship situations by assisting them to engage with relevant government and support agencies. On several occasions she has housed vulnerable refugee wives and children in her own home for emergency ‘cooling down’ periods. She has made herself available at all hours, often travelling to meet with refugee families in the evenings and on weekends to provide assistance. Mrs Dawson is regarded as a matriarch of the Myanmar community in New Zealand and has been involved with organising language and cultural lessons for Burmese children, as well as Burmese New Year water festival events.
Queen’s Service Medal
Neil Malcolm McCorkindale, JP, Eastern Beach
For services to hockey administration
Neil McCorkindale has been a hockey volunteer in the Auckland region for more than 60 years. Mr McCorkindale was Vice President of the Auckland Hockey Umpires Association from 1998 to 2016 and umpired high school hockey from 1977 to 2016. He played and began umpiring junior hockey in the late 1950s and 1960s. He was a board member of the Auckland Hockey Association from 2006 to 2014 and chaired the Club Council from 2007 to 2014. He has been Vice President and Judicial Commissioner of the Auckland Hockey Association for the past 13 years. He continues to umpire senior hockey grades on a weekly basis with the Association. He has been made a Life Member of both the Auckland Hockey Association and the Auckland Hockey Umpires Association. He has been a match director at New Zealand national hockey tournaments and was the umpire for a World Masters hockey final in Auckland. Mr McCorkindale has received several Auckland sport awards recognising his contributions.
AWARDS
Sport Manakau, Sporting Excellence Award, 2015 Auckland Hockey Association, Volunteer of the Year, 2008 Sport Auckland, Services to Sport Award, 2006.
