Wall of Fame
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| 2012 Wall of Fame |
| DOUGLAS SAXON COOMBS – ACADEMIC (At King’s High School 1938-1942) |
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| Born in Dunedin in 1924 and educated at King’s High School, Doug attended the University of Otago, graduating with an MSc with first-class honours in 1948. He then studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded a PhD in 1952. First appointed an assistant lecturer in geology at Otago in 1947, Doug became a professor in 1956 – a position he held for 34 years. He retired in 1989 and was granted the title of professor emeritus. Doug was noted for his studies of the rocks of the southern South Island of New Zealand. The mineral species coombsite, K(Mn2+, Fe2+, Mg)13(Si, Al)18O42(OH)14, is named for him. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1962, and in 1969 he won the society’s Hector Medal, at that time New Zealand’s highest science prize. He received the Mineralogical Society of America Award in 1963. In the 2002 New Year Honours, Doug was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to mineralogy. He was a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Science. Honorary D.Sc. University of Geneva Life member of the Mineralogical Society of America. Honorary Member of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. A right-hand batsman and leg-break bowler, Doug played cricket for Otago in the 1942–43 season. |
| THE VERY REVEREND JOHN MURRAY – HUMANITIES 1943 – 1947 |
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| John was born in November 1929, and attended St Clair School, followed by Kings High School, then undertook MA studies at Otago University. He attended the Theological Hall as a special student in 1952. John travelled overseas for further study at King’s College in the United Kingdom and graduated with an MA from Canterbury in 1954. He married Shirley in July of the same year in Cambridge, England. John then studied at Bossey Ecumenical Institute, Switzerland before returning to New Zealand where he accepted a call and was ordained at St David’s, Taihape in June 1956. John resigned from this role on 31 January 1962 and was appointed as ecumenical chaplain to Victoria University and Wellington Teachers’ College from 1 February 1962. During these years John was actively involved in protests against the Vietnam war. John accepted a call to Knox Church, Christchurch in November 1967. He worked with HART (Halt all Racial Tours) and was involved with the NZ Race Relations Council. John was then called to St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington, in February 1975 and served there until his retirement in 1993. During these years, St Andrew’s became a centre for social action and political debate. John co-founded “Boycott” to stop the All Blacks tour of South Africa in 1985. He served as the convener of the Presbyterian Public Questions Committee. John also played an important part as a cofounder and later as chairperson of Te Kakano o te Aroha Marae Trust, Moera, Lower Hutt, in 1988. John was installed as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand in 1990 and presided at the 150th-anniversary celebrations. He helped found the St Andrew’s Music Trust and the St Andrew’s Trust for Religion and Society. John was the founder and chairperson of the NZ Hymnbook Trust, promoting and publishing New Zealand hymns and songs for all churches. In addition, he was the manager and the chief editor of “Alleluia Aotearoa”, the first book of NZ hymns for all churches in Aotearoa, published in 1993. John believed the church needed to speak into the social and political issues of the day – both within Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond. Not only to speak – but to act. John was active in social engagement and the list of his passionate commitments is long and includes being a member with Amnesty International for many years; he was also actively engaged in the fight to save historic buildings and sites including the Bolton Street Cemetery and 22 The Terrace in Wellington and was a strong supporter of the 1985 homosexual law reform bill. John also served as chairperson of the national co-ordinating World Court Project committee to outlaw nuclear weapons at the International Court of Justice. John was granted minister emeritus status by the Wellington Presbytery in July 1993, retired from active ministry and moved to Raumati (Kapiti Coast). In retirement he remained active in many spheres including serving as president of Frederic Wallis House, an ecumenical retreat centre in Lower Hutt; as the national co-convener of Abolition 2000, the NZ movement to eliminate all nuclear weapons; and as a world church peace monitor for the first post-apartheid democratic election in South Africa in 1994. He was involved in publishing “Songs of Praise from Aotearoa”, the first video of NZ hymns in 1999 and published “Faith Forever Singing”, 80 new NZ Hymns, in 2000. John was awarded the ONZM (Officer of the NZ Order of Merit) for service to the community in 2000. He was appointed as a member of the Race Relations Sector Advisory Group of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission in 2003. John worked for causes close to his heart in his local community, actively working towards initiating local Kapiti Coast civic/community celebrations of Waitangi Day; and was part of an inter-iwi group promoting better race relations between different local ethnic groups. He was a founding trustee of “Dignity New Zealand Trust” for law change on end-of-life decisions (voluntary euthanasia). |
| THE HONOURABLE HUGH TEMPLETON – (At King’s High School 145 to 1947) – ACADEMIC |
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Hugh was born in Wyndham, Southland, in 1929. He was educated at Gore High School, King’s High School, the University of Otago, and then as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford University. He married Russian-born New Zealand novelist Natasha Templeton in Wellington in 1961. From 1954 to 1969 Hugh served with the New Zealand Department of External Affairs, first in London, and then in Wellington, before going as the last Deputy High Commissioner of Western Samoa to prepare specially for independence and then to New York to assist secure Samoa’s post-independence aid programmes, under Guy Powles. From 1965 to 1969 he served in Wellington working on Asian and European and Defence affairs, before being elected to Parliament for Awarua 1969- 1972, for Karori 1978–1981 and for Ohariu 1981–1984. Hugh was appointed to various positions in communications and economic portfolios during the Muldoon National Government of 1975–1984. Templeton was Minister of Revenue (1977–1982) and Minister of Trade and Industry (1981–1984) with responsibility for ANZCER (Australia – New Zealand Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement). Templeton also worked with the Prime Minister on stimulating New Zealand’s onshore petroleum programme as part of Think Big. He wrote a book All Honourable Men: Inside the Muldoon Cabinet 1975–1984 on this period. In the 1992 New Year Honours, Hugh was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for public services. He was made an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia (OA) 2009 for services to Australia-New Zealand relations. This honour is one of the highest in Australia and Hugh was invested by Prime Minister Julia Gillard at a special ceremony held in Canberra in Feb 2011. Hugh was the first King’s student to win a Rhodes Scholarship its first MP and its first Minister of the Crown. |
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