Special Old Boys

John Humphrey Peat (Attended Kings High School from 1942 to 1943)

John’s initiative, intellect and quiet diplomacy resulted in the establishment of a unique and greatly admired and valued specialist centre for Cleft lip and Palate at Middlemore and his legacy there continues to this day and replicated around the country and beyond. John was an orthodontist who lived in Auckland. He is the author of “A history of orthodontics in New Zealand in the twentieth century”, a book that covers the development of the profession and the people who contributed to it1. He also served as the president of the New Zealand Association of Orthodontists from 1976 to 1978.
When at Kings he was in forms 3L and 4L. He gained honourable mentions in both classes at the end of year prize giving. He graduated from the University of Otago with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1951. Later he gained Master of Literature (MLitt) degree – probably from Auckland University. He was a Fellow of Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (FRACDS). The achievement of the FRACDS takes a minimum of four years of comprehensive surgical training.
The staff at Middlemore loved him for the attributes he brought to the unit particularly the kindness and concerns for the very needy patients and their families who naturally were handling deep emotional stress, for the patience and understanding in mentoring new Orthodontic specialists in the management and thinking required in the treatment of these children and the very respectful way he worked with the nursing and administrative staff that supported the service. He epitomized a truly kind and dedicated professional man.
John passed away on Sunday 24th September, shortly before his 96th birthday.

John Barr

Ian North Grant (Attended King’s High school from 1940 to 1944)

In 1943 Ian gained University Entrance and in 1944 his Higher Leaving Certificate.

IAN Grant started giving to the Oamaru community in 1950 and kept on serving for the rest of his life.

Ian was born in Dunedin in 1926. Twenty years later he was one of the first intake of radiographers to be trained in New Zealand and in 1950 moved to Oamaru to become charge radiographer at the public hospital.

Well-loved and respected in his community, Ian gave much to the community of North Otago n a life of loyalty, dedication and commitment, he died May 10, aged 96. In his professional career, Ian excelled in many areas of health leadership. He was elected president of the Radiographers Society in 1972 and was conferred an honorary fellowship in 1987 before he retired.

In 2011, he was the distinguished guest speaker at a reunion of radiologists in Dunedin and was the only surviving member of the class of ’46.

Ian also served on the Oamaru Hospital Board from 196389, when it then became part of the Otago Area Health Board.

Away from the hospital, Ian was instrumental in cofounding the Oamaru Photographic Society, together with Thomas Bracken. They provided many opportunities for club members to hone their photographic skills, develop their own photos and foster a love of photography in the community. His earlier photos of Oamaru have been given to the museum archive.

Having been involved from the age of 9 in Life Boys, then the Leith Dunedin Company, Ian joined the 1st Oamaru Company Boys Brigade in Oamaru in 1950. He was appointed captain in 1955, a position he held until his retirement from active brigade life in 1979. Along with his co-officers, he organised many successful camps at Glencoe, Dunback and at Dansey’s Pass. He was actively involved in helping to plan and take local boys to the many national camps at Tomoana and Blenheim. He helped organise training courses for both officers and NCOs and bought a Bedford CA van to transport boys and their gear to camps and expeditions as he did not want anyone to miss out.

Ian’s Christian faith was the cornerstone of his moral compass. He attended Columba Church and in 1952 took on the role of Sunday school teacher, preparing scriptural lessons for the children. He served as elder to Columba Church for 37 years

Ian was also in a male quartet with other men from the Columba Church and would often per­form at functions. He had a grateful heart for his lot in life.

His association with the North Otago Scottish Society spanned almost 60 years. He was elected chief in 1980, a position he held for 2 years.

His knowledge of protocols and legalities proved valuable on countless occasions. He loved to address the haggis when celebrating the birthday of Robbie Bums, an annual celebration in every Scottish Society.

He also had a considerable involvement with the North Otago Highland Pipe Band. Despite not playing himself, he served on the band executive committee and held the role of chieftain or patron. Always there when there was fundrais­ing to be done, Ian also supported the band at many contests

Rodger William Hilliker, MNZM, MStJ (Attended King’s High School from 1948 to 1952.)

On his retirement after nearly 50 years as a GP in the township, Rodger was made a Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit for his services as a general practitioner, in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

 In 1952 Rodger was King’s high school Head Boy. He was a member of First Rugby fifteen and was awarded King’s Blue for Rugby.
Rodger was R.S.M.: W.O.1 in the Military Cadet Corp. He was selected as best cadet in Area XI in the William Robert Friar Competition.     
In 1951 Old Boys Prize for General Excellence in English, Mathematics, Chemistry, French, Latin. He gained University Entrance in 1951and was on the Credit list for University Scholarship in 1953.

On leaving Kings Rodger studied medicine at the University of Otago. He graduated M.B., Ch.B. 1959.

Rodger first arrived in South Canterbury as a medical student in 1957 and spent a couple of years at Timaru Hospital before moving to a Temuka practice in 1961. His first 12 years as a GP in Temuka were part-time as he was a part-time anaesthetist for Timaru Hospital

Dr Hilliker has received the Distinguished Service Medal of the Royal College of General Practitioners; he was presented with a long service medal by the Temuka Salvation Army; and was recognised by the Volunteer Fire Brigade, which declared him a life member. He was involved with St John Temuka for 49 years while in practice. He was invested as a Member of the Order of St John (MStJ).

He served as South Island representative on the New Zealand Medical Association’s Central General Practitioner Committee. He was elected president of the association, was elected to its council, and chaired its Central Ethics Committee.

When the practice nurse scheme was introduced in 1969, he was one of the first GPs in the country to employ a practice nurse, he hoped his advocacy for the nurses had had a positive influence on general practices today. As a sole doctor in the town having practice nurses made the doctor’s job much more manageable.  The nurses did did an awful lot of the work that otherwise would be just impossible to cope with. They virtually took over a lot of the parts of general practice and did them better than the doctors did. In other words, they were better at giving babies injections, and they had real skills with doing dressings, cleaning out ears, doing all of those things.

While Dr Hilliker no longer practises, he was a driving force behind establishing a “one-stop shop” health centre to meet Temuka’s health care needs. The facility opened in 2016.  Rodger hoped to include a receptionist, the practice nurse, the general practitioners and the other specialist groups that come into it – and this isn’t just the medical specialists – it’s the laboratory specialists, it’s the radiography, it’s all of these people working together for the benefit of the patient.”

In recognition Rodger’s service to the community the Timaru District Council community services committee decided that an unnamed park in Temuka, is to be renamed Dr Hilliker Park.

John Barr

Jonathan Hassall Amies (Attended King’s High School from 1957 to 1962.)

J

Jonathan Hassall Amies

Jonathan attended King’s High School from 1957 to 1962.

He was a keen member of the School Chess Club playing on Tuesday lunch times at school and Friday evenings at the Otago Chess Club. On the final Friday evening meeting Jonathan was presented with a Chess Club Prize. He was also a keen cricketer and rugby player.  In 1961 and 1962 competed well in the Senior Graded Events at the School Athletic Sports being placed in the 440yds, shot put and javelin events.  Before the “School Formal Dance” lessons in dancing were conducted by dance professionals Mr and Mrs Robinson.  Owing to the relationship between Kings Rector Lang and Head Mistress Ballard from Queens High School being a little strained at the time no girls were at these lessons. My dance partner was Jonathan. We were not great dancers but we probably were not the worst.

On leaving school Jonathan had an unsettled year at the University of Otago, then took a break which included doing National Service coming out as a Territorial Force Officer. He went on to complete a degree in Biochemistry at the Victoria University of Wellington.

By 1970 he had become a Biochemistry Tutor at the Waikato Technical Institute in Hamilton, New Zealand – a position he held until November 1983. A Diploma in Safety Management was studied during this time

In 1984 he became the Safety Officer at the Melbourne University College of Advanced Education.

In November of that year, he was appointed as Occupational Health and Safety Manager at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne. He worked here for 9 years.

Jonathan then ade a career moves to the Chinese University of Hong Kong as Safety Manager and Chief Laboratory Safety Officer He stayed here until January 2003.

After this he returned to Melbourne where he became Senior Consultant in Occupational Health and Safety for all departments at Deakin University. He did this until 2005.  He did this with some full time but mainly part time work as required.

Jonathan is a Chartered Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia.

Since he retired in 2005, he served two terms as the National Technical Chair of the Safety Institute of Australia and one term as Chair of the Safety Institute of Australia Special Interest Group in Chemical and Laboratory Safety

A principal interest of his has been life in Greece having ventured there many times including clambering over archaeological sites and visiting countless museums

He lives in Melbourne with Anna his wife of 57 years.

John Barr

Tony Merriman (at King’s 1981 -1985)

Professor Tony Merriman, a researcher with the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre was delighted that the Marsden Fund gave him $3 million over the next three years from their inaugural Marsden Fund Council. Tony is one of the country’s leading scientists in the area of gout and metabolic disease, University of Otago
The money will go towards funding the investigation of genetic markers associated with metabolic diseases like diabetes and gout in Pacific people and to investigating how these diseases might have evolved.
In recent years Tony has received a Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award to undertake research in the United States.He also was one of three researchers nationally to receive a prestigious James Cook Fellowship from the Royal Society Te Ap?rangi.