Sir Peter Blake Trust Awards Dinner

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Kia ora tātou katoa.

I specifically acknowledge: Sarah-Jane Blake, Sir Ron Carter and the Blake Medallists who are here tonight.  Tēnā koutou katoa.

I am delighted to join you in celebrating 10 years of fantastic work by the Sir Peter Blake Trust, and to acknowledge seven exemplary New Zealanders who will join the 64 other Blake Trust Leaders.  Tonight, we are celebrating leadership – leaders who lead. 

From the moment he decided, in his teens, that he would build his own yacht, through his impressive achievements in ocean racing, to his passionate advocacy around ecological issues, Sir Peter Blake showed that if we want things to happen, we have to make them happen ourselves.

Of course, it helps if you can bring others on board.  Sir Peter was able to inspire people on a national scale, bringing out the best in them, and to win.
Dreamers dream and doers do.  Leaders dream and do.

I am proud to be co-Patron of an organisation that recognises that tomorrow’s leaders are in today’s classrooms; that gives them positive role models to look up to; and encourages them, our young people - our rangatahi - to make the best of their lives.

Sir Peter Blake’s example is one of making the most of the opportunities and challenges in his life.  I think he would have been very enthusiastic about this year’s theme – because if ever there was a New Zealander who set out to “Make things Happen” – and who succeeded in doing so – it was Peter Blake.

This morning, I spent some time at Greenmeadows Intermediate in Manurewa.  It was my third stint as a Dream Teamer, and I have to say it was a great experience for me – and I imagine for the 300 others who have volunteered their time in this way.  The 25 young people I met were outstanding in the way they engaged and conducted themselves.

Let me share some of the personal dreams and those for New Zealand of the young people I met:
• Kervin – My dream is to become the NZ mens Blacksticks captain.
• Ursula – to travel around the world, I want to see different things in life.
• Arvic – My dream is to be an archaeologist and have my own team to explore the world and cultures or an astronomer.  I want NZ to be proud and a place where opportunities lie and where leaders rise.
• Isabella – My dream is to get a degree in Fine Screen Arts so I can be an actress.  I’d hopefully want to go overseas to act and be on Shortland Street.  My dream for NZ is to have no war, I hope we can be peaceful.  Having a clean, green country is good too.

As co-Patron of the Sir Peter Blake Trust, I have valued the opportunity to assist with sustaining Peter’s legacy: to encourage young New Zealanders to think positively about their dreams for the future – and to think about how they can contribute to the wellbeing of their communities and our environment.

As individuals and communities we are obliged to care for the environment.  The more New Zealanders are aware of the degradation of the environment and its impact, the more likely we are to achieve workable strategies to tackle these pressing issues.   Encouraging our young people to do these things conserves the environment today and develops conservation leaders for tomorrow.

As co-Patron of the Trust, I am privileged to have this part in acknowledging outstanding New Zealanders.  The Trust’s recognition of Blake Leaders and Blake Medallists gives due recognition to exceptional individuals and their achievements – and also affirms the importance of working for the greater good.

As a country, we haven’t always recognised such people.

With that in mind, I want to recall a man whose achievements, like those of Sir Peter Blake, started with remarkable seafaring skills and leadership.  He was a man who made things happen.  His name was Frank Worsley.

Frank Worsley was born in Akaroa.  He was the captain of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance during Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914-17 Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition.  When, in 1915, the ship became trapped in pack ice, a small group set out in a lifeboat to seek help.  Their story is one of survival, courage and endeavour.  They faced a perilous voyage of some 1,300 kilometres across the stormy South Atlantic.  It was Frank Worsley’s outstanding navigational skills and seamanship that enabled them to reach the safety of South Georgia.

As if that was not enough, Worsley then accompanied Shackleton on a 36 hour walk across the mountains and glaciers of South Georgia to reach a whaling station.  Eventually the remaining men stranded on Elephant Island were rescued.

This was just one chapter in Worsley’s remarkable action-packed life.  For his wartime service, he was awarded a DSO for ramming and sinking a German submarine, and then awarded a bar to the DSO for leading other men to safety through enemy lines.  Worsley was a great navigator, adventurer and leader in action.

The citation noted how he kept up the spirits of all “by his unfailingly cheery leadership” .

We remember such individuals to honour their accomplishments, and because their lives provide inspiration for those who follow. 

Almost a hundred years after Worsley and Shackleton made their epic journey, and the 10 years since the Sir Peter Blake Trust was established, I would like to think the spirit of service, leadership and adventure personified by great New Zealanders like Frank Worsley and Sir Peter Blake lives on through the Trust’s work in New Zealand’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions.

Every year, the positive influence and example Sir Peter Blake lives on through his Trust.  Its work spreads wider and deeper.  The Trust mobilises and inspires the next generation of New Zealand leaders, adventurers and environment stewards.

Let me close by saying congratulations to the recipients of the awards this evening, and to everyone involved with the Sir Peter Blake Trust for reaching this ten-year milestone.  You have come a long way, you have much to celebrate, and I look forward to working with you on your initiatives in the future.

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa