Dave Morgan, who died in Masterton in November 2019, aged 79, personified a now vanished age of militant blue-collar unionism and political unionism. As his Stuff obituary said, he was "one of the last of a generation of New Zealand trade union leaders who were once household names" ("Dave Morgan, Flamboyant And Newsworthy Union Leader", Karl du Fresne, 7/12/19).

For the final three decades of the 20th Century and into the early years of the 21st Dave was the national leader of what is now called the Maritime Union of New Zealand (which was called the Seamen's Union and then the Seafarers' Union in Dave's day). Under his leadership it was a fighting union, one which fought political battles, not simply industrial ones over pay and conditions (which is the bread and butter stuff of any union).

With the exception of the late Helen Kelly (for whom Dave was both a family friend and a mentor), none of the recent or current crop of union leaders could be called household names. But Dave Morgan was such a household name that he could be simply depicted - invariably, negatively - in newspaper cartoons without the need of being named. I remember one such showing him as a dinosaur, wearing his trademark hat (which, conveniently, was black, to emphasise the point that he was the baddy).

Political Unionism

His political unionism can be judged from this quote: "'And the one thing I am most proud of is our achievement in keeping the USS Truxtun out of Wellington', he says of a refusal by unionists to berth the American warship or service it while it lay at anchor for six days in 1976" (from a media interview when he retired. New Zealand Herald, 30/10/03, "Retiring Union Leader Says He'll Continue To Fight", Matthew Dearnaley). The Truxtun was one of several US warships which the Seamen's Union refused to service when they visited NZ ports in the 1970s and 80s.

When people today think of the heroes of the mass campaign which led to NZ having been nuclear free since the 1980s, they think of the Peace Squadron or those who marched in the streets. But the Seamen's Union, and other unions, played a key role in that campaign. Governments since that time, both National and Labour, have paid them a backhanded compliment by passing laws that ban "political" strikes. That's why you won't hear any of the current crop of union leaders talking about his or her proudest achievement being a political action - it's all strictly bread and butter industrial unionism these days. Which is exactly how Governments and employers like it.

Dave started what is CAFCA's longest standing - and ongoing - union relationship (since 1981). Under his leadership the union made a couple of big donations to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which provides my income. But I met Dave years before CAFCA or CAFCINZ existed. The first demonstrations I went on were against the Vietnam War and featured several trade union speakers.

Four linger in my memory - Wes Cameron, Dave Morgan, Gordon Walker and Hugh McCrory. They played a signal role in broadening my understanding of the central importance of the biggest single sector of the population - the working class. All four stood out for particular reasons - Walker for sheer size, Cameron by a voice like a concrete mixer, Morgan by a concrete mixer voice with an Aussie accent. And McCrory, the slightest, most self-effacing of them, by his broad Scottish accent.

Walker moved to Australia decades ago, and I have no idea if he's still alive; McCrory died in 1989 (my obituary of him is in Watchdog 62, September 1989. Hugh's funeral was the last time I saw Dave Morgan in Christchurch. It was noteworthy in that he actually took off his trademark hat). Wes Cameron died in 2006 (my obituary of him is in Watchdog 112, August 2006).

When I first attended anti-Vietnam War rallies, as a first year University of Canterbury student in 1969, Dave Morgan was the Seamen's Union Lyttelton Secretary and a regular speaker. I was transfixed by this redheaded (inevitably known as Bluey) fellow - so I knew Dave when he actually had hair. He didn't wear hats 50 years ago. I joined the Progressive Youth Movement (my road to ruin) and my first PYM meetings were at Dave's Linwood flat. He and the seamen became fixtures at all PYM activities, political and social.

Communist

At that time, Dave was a member of the former Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ), which was then aligned with China, and his role was to build links between the Party and the new generation of bumptious young activists (I was 18; Dave was 29). And it was to keep a wary eye on us - in Auckland, the original and much bigger PYM started off as a junior branch of the Party. But Christchurch PYM certainly wasn't that - for example, I was a know it all anarchist (anarchists actually called ourselves libertarians in those days, before that word was stolen and corrupted by the Right).

But by mid 1969 Dave had left the Party - he told me that the specific reason was because of developments in China, which was then in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. I learned from his Stuff obituary (cited above) that, prior to moving to NZ as a young seaman, he had joined the former Communist Party of Australia (one of three rival Communist parties in Aussie; they're all long gone now).

"In a 1998 radio interview with Brian Edwards, Morgan recalled being radicalised during late night debates in the messroom with Communist shipmates. He was captivated by the ideological dynamics of his working environment. Communism, he explained to Edwards, held out the hope of a better life" (Stuff obituary, ibid.)

Dave was unusual among NZ union leaders in having belonged to the Maoist Party, as opposed to the rival pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party (SUP) which built a power base among unions and counted national leaders like Bill Andersen and Ken Douglas among its members (Paul Watson's obituary of Bill Andersen is in Watchdog 108, April 2005. Both the CPNZ and SUP are also long gone). Dave never joined another party but he remained a militant socialist until his death.

Protester

Dave was into every protest going. I have an enduring memory of one early 70s' demo, when PYM marched to the Christchurch beach where a surf lifesaving team from apartheid South Africa was competing against New Zealand, in defiance of world opinion. We encountered a very hostile reception from the crowd of several thousand spectators, who bombarded us with driftwood and pies and anything else they could lay their hands on. We promptly fled, abandoning our plan to burn a large cross a la the Ku Klux Klan (a US white racist terrorist group).

My old political mentor, the late Keith Duffield, was made of sterner stuff and proceeded to parade the unburnt cross (ironic really, as he was a Communist atheist) up and down the beach, oblivious to the baying mob. He was accompanied by two others, namely Dave Morgan and Wolf Rosenberg. That took guts by all three of them (my obituary of Keith is in Watchdog 18, March 1979, which can be more easily accessed here; and my obituary of Wolf is in Watchdog 114, May 2007).

Dave was a useful bugger to have on our side - at the 1969 Canterbury A & P Show (held in those days in Christchurch's former Addington Showgrounds), a group of us PYMers were stopped from entering the sideshow tent of the "Electric Lady from Hong Kong" (she was as much from Hong Kong as I am). Dave sprang to our defence. The taken aback bouncer said: "I'm not talking to you but to the louts". Dave's immortal reply was: "I'm one of the louts!" (being called a "longhaired lout" was a common insult in those days).

The apotheosis of this came also in 1969, when a group of bikies (this was at the very dawn of gangs, it's quaint now looking back) led by "Filthy Phil" tried hard to disrupt a riverbank anti-Vietnam War rally in the central city. Bad move - after Morgan gave them a peremptory warning ("are you going to shut up?"), they were summarily flattened by the seamen. "Filthy Phil" was carried away unconscious. Bikies never bothered us again. Tony Webster's photo of the comatose "Filthy" was hung in pride of place in the union's national office in Wellington when Morgan was its national leader.

Mind you, it didn't help being on the same side at times. A PYM party at the University of Canterbury's Ilam Students' Association Building got wildly out of hand (amongst other things, we were held responsible for "performing an indecent act on a wall"). I was punched to the ground and kicked in the face by a seaman - Morgan saved me from worse (I've been punched in the face on more than one occasion over the years but that remains the only time I've been kicked in the face). Work hard, play hard was the seamen's motto, but it sure put a dent in worker-student solidarity for a time.

Aside from the odd hiccup (or punchup), the seamen were a mainstay of the anti-war movement. Ports regularly closed so that members could join the huge mobilisations in the cities; striking ships were festooned with anti-war placards and banners. They came on the first wave of anti-bases demos in the early 70s - Dave Morgan and other seamen played their part in the epic battle on top of Mount John in 1972 (you can read about the Battle of Mount John in my article "In Memory Of Derek Bunn", in Watchdog 148, August 2018. Derek was one of those injured by the cops in that).

In the middle of all this, they were deregistered as a union, by a National government in cahoots with Tom Skinner, the leader of the then Federation of Labour - it was PYM's turn to join their marches. They were the classic militant, class conscious union. Morgan left Lyttelton in 1973 (his last day being marked by a national strike to support yet another mobilisation) to start his decades as the union's Wellington-based President.

CAFCA & Union Shared Campaigns

Terry Stuart became the South Island Secretary (a position he held until the union closed its' Lyttelton office in 1999 and Terry lost his job), seamen became seafarers and CAFCA was one of the groups that emerged out of the PYM. From the start the South Island office of the union was a generous supporter of ours, donating hundreds of dollars over the years. Not just money either - twice, in the 90s, I travelled from Lyttelton to Wellington and back on a cargo ship, free of charge, courtesy of the union (once was with Becky and a friend of ours).

They were memorable trips - huge seas; dining with the captain; and being accused by the crew's cook - who had a beer in one hand and a big knife in the other - of being "a fucking academic planted on the ship by the union to spy on us but I'm not afraid of the fucking union" (all I wanted was breakfast, which I eventually got). The same generosity was extended to Tony Webster when he needed to get his exhibition of historic PYM photos to Wellington in 1991 - the union had a long memory when it came to old political friendships.

CAFCA and the union shared campaigns. In the 80s, we opposed the export of Buller coal; their angle was that they wanted jobs for New Zealand seafarers. A handful of CAFCA members travelled to Lyttelton to picket a coal carrier; a small army of seafarers poured out of the former British pub, and suddenly we had a crowd big enough to warrant a photo in the Press. Terry Stuart invited me to join him in his inspection of the ship - the captain, lounging in his cabin in his underwear and enjoying a Sunday whiskey, was highly startled when we joined the party.

We supported the union when it fought deregulation of coastal shipping, joining pickets in ports. When the former TranzRail tried to smash the union on the Cook Strait ferries in the mid 90s, CAFCA joined midwinter dawn pickets at Christchurch railway station. We supported the union in the 90s when its assets were seized (including the Lyttelton office) in yet another attempt to smash it.

The Seafarers was a fighting union, holding pickets and waging campaigns for literally years at a time. Its members and officials (including both Dave Morgan and Terry Stuart) were arrested en masse in the course of these battles. They practiced direct action - Dave's Stuff obituary was illustrated with a photo of him (grinning broadly) and rank and file seafarers occupying the Wellington boardroom of the former Shipping Corporation in 1988.

When The Going Got Tough, TUF Got Going

The Seafarers Union was instrumental in a bloc of unions turning their backs on the gutless national leadership of the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) in the 90s and forming the Trade Union Federation. Dave Morgan served as TUF's first President, from 1993, and I was privileged to be invited to address its national conference in Wellington, under his chairmanship, in 1995. That was the last time I actually saw Dave. I was accompanying a visiting Filipino on a national speaking tour. My tour report states: "...we both addressed the Trade Union Federation's conference and got an extremely good response, with particularly glowing words from outgoing President Dave Morgan".

TUF is long gone (it patched up its differences with the CTU and merged back into it in 2001) but deserves to be remembered as one beam of light in a very dark period of NZ's trade union history. Here's an extract from my obituary of it (Watchdog 96, April 2001): "But out of those ashes (i.e. of the CTU's craven capitulation to the 1991 Employment Contracts Act) arose a new union grouping, one dedicated to defending workers' rights and advancing their interests". .

"The NZ Trade Union Federation (TUF) was born before the decade (1990s) was half over, comprised of mainly blue-collar unions that could no longer stomach the gutlessness of the then CTU leadership. From Day One, although it had a membership of thousands, TUF knew that it would struggle in terms of numbers and money. The biggest unions (such as the Engineers [now E Tu] and the Public Service Association) remained firmly in the CTU, and wedded to its non-political, partnership-with-employers, service model of unionism. TUF was committed to being both political and an organising model of unionism, building links with the broader progressive movement, and actively campaigning on issues".

"Throughout that entire period, we had nothing to do with the CTU, but TUF was in the thick of everything. Wearing my various hats, I had numerous connections with it - TUF was a member of both CAFCA and the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA). TUF was a major partner of GATT* Watchdog and the APEC** Monitoring Group in all aspects of the fight against the cargo cult of unrestricted free trade)". *GATT = General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Now the World Trade Organisation (WTO). **APEC = Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. NZ is next hosting APEC in 2021. MH.

"TUF was involved in all the campaigns that arose out of the bungled 1996 break-in at Aziz Choudry's* house by agents of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS). TUF and the National Distribution Union (NDU; now FIRST Union) waged a major, successful, campaign to preserve remaining tariffs on textiles, footwear and clothing after National/New Zealand First destroyed the car assembly industry with the stroke of a pen, in 1998, and the Tory ideologues' policy was for all tariffs whatsoever to be dropped". See my article "Aziz Choudry Wins Case Against SIS. Out Of Court Settlement; Damages; Government Apology" in* Watchdog 92, December 1999. MH.

"TUF fought the conversion of prisons to factories, producing prison labour footwear to undercut what was left of NZ's shoemakers. TUF was our partner in many campaigns that were both fun and effective - its last President, Maxine Gay, was a Roger Award judge for several years, and was the guest speaker at CAFCA's 25th birthday party, in 2000. When PSNA toured Leonor Briones, the then President of the Philippines' Freedom from Debt Coalition, through NZ in 1995, TUF was involved".

"Both Leonor and I had the privilege of speaking to its national conference, in Wellington. In 1999, when PSNA toured Crispin Beltran, chairperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU - May First Movement), TUF was the co-organiser (the NDU played a major role in that tour). In 2000, PSNA donated $1,0000 towards sending the TUF Secretary to the annual KMU May Day activities, in the Philippines. As the 1990s wore on, there arose more and more CTU/TUF cooperation (although only at the regional, never the national level. Memories were too bitter to permit that). A united approach was needed to confront the relentless attacks on unions and workers".

"Eventually, thank God, the CTU leadership changed... and there has been a marked change of emphasis. The CTU has rediscovered struggle; it has rediscovered strikes and pickets; it has rediscovered the organising, rather than the service, model; it has rediscovered union unity; and it is re-examining its shameful acceptance of globalisation, unrestricted foreign investment and free trade. It's got a long way to go (in areas such as still putting faith in the Labour Party), but it's the most encouraging news to come out of the union movement in more than a decade".

"As the Millennium ended (the very last day of it being marked by the death of Christine Clarke on a Lyttelton union picket line) and the Labour/Alliance government replaced the Employment Contracts Act with the better (but not by much) Employment Relations Act, the boot came off the throat of the Kiwi worker a bit. Throughout its existence, TUF had been struggling with the shortage of both money and members So, a decision had to be made".

"There was an obvious parallel - New Labour, led by Jim Anderton*, had split from Labour, disgusted by Rogernomics, and given birth to the Alliance, which was Labour's fierce rival for the Left and Centre vote throughout the 1990s. But, in time for the 1999 election, Labour got back into bed with the Alliance, having promised to clean its teeth and use underarm deodorant more often. They forged the Coalition that saw them win power that year. 2000 was the year that the CTU and TUF spent negotiating a reunion - it came into effect in 2001. TUF's greatest legacy to NZ unionism can be seen in the CTU's rediscovery of struggle, of militancy, of politics". *My obituary of Jim Anderton is in Watchdog 147, April 2018. MH.

"So, the TUFfies are gone, but far from forgotten. Some deserve to be singled out - for instance, Dave Morgan, Maxine Gay, Robert Reid, Michael Gilchrist, Paul Watson, and they are just some of the ones with whom we have had regular dealings. The unions in the KMU bloc in the Philippines emphasise that they are 'genuine, militant and democratic'. The same claim could be made for TUF. That, in one of the darkest hours of 20th Century NZ unionism, it kept aloft the torch of real trade unions, of real workers' struggle. 'Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, we'll keep the Red Flag flying here'. They did. We can't begin to thank them enough".

Proletarian Internationalism

Dave Morgan retired in 2003, aged 63. He did so at the inaugural conference of the Maritime Union of NZ (MUNZ), of which he was the joint President. MUNZ was formed by a merger between the unions of the seafarers and the watersiders. Not only was he a giant of the NZ union movement, he was a leading exponent of proletarian internationalism. This was succinctly summarised by the tribute from Sam Huggard, who was then the CTU's Secretary:

"Dave Morgan, liberationist and freedom fighter, died today. When Dave was first elected President of the New Zealand Seafarers' Union in 1973, workers' rights were under pressure everywhere in the world. Even in those young days, Dave was a seasoned activist, heavily involved in the movement against the war in Vietnam".

"In his decades of committed service to the trade union movement, Dave's internationalism continued. He led the Seafarers' Union and later the Maritime Union of New Zealand in campaigns against the Vietnam War; against the brutal Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (including the prolonged trade ban); and in opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa including campaigning against racist sports tours. Much more could be written".

"Dave was also a leading member in many workers' solidarity movements in the Pacific region, including movements opposing the coups in Fiji. He was the principal backbone of the New Zealand trade union movement's support for the miners in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, who were facing brutal repression from the then Thatcher government. Within the maritime unions internationally Dave was a mentor to many, and was the key mover in agitating against flags of convenience and against servitude and slave-like conditions on sea-going vessels. This work continues today".

"Dave was a giant figure in the New Zealand trade union movement, and hundreds of thousands of workers benefitted from his contribution and his solidarity. He was also particularly close to his Australian comrades, especially the Maritime Union of Australia. There is grief across both countries today" (5/11/19).

"Under his leadership, the seamen were part of a hard core of Leftwing blue-collar unions - along with others representing meat workers, boilermakers, watersiders and truck drivers - that regarded themselves as upholding traditions of militancy, solidarity and class consciousness" (Stuff obituary, ibid.). One could also add that those old school working class unions were overwhelmingly male. The militant unions of today are more likely to be middle class, white collar and female. The composition of unions changes but not the principles of unionism.

I first met Dave Morgan more than 50 years ago but I never knew him personally. For example, I've never met Maggie, his wife of nearly 50 years. And I last actually saw Dave 25 years ago. But he was a very important figure in my early life as a political activist and the union he headed for 30 years has been a very important member and supporter of CAFCA right from our very beginning back in the 70s.

A Giant Of NZ Working Class History

Dave cast a very long shadow. In 2017 I went to Melbourne, for the first time since 1988. I went in my Anti-Bases Campaign capacity to attend and speak at the national conference of the major network of Australian peace groups. The conference was held in a Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) building and the union and its members generously supported it.

One of the conference's major speakers was the MUA's Assistant National Secretary, Warren Smith. Warren's speech "Peace Is Union Business" is in Peace Researcher 54, November 2017. I recommend you read it - I haven't heard anything remotely like it from any NZ union leader in decades.

After Warren's speech I had a chance to have a chat to him and we ended up talking about somebody we both knew - Dave Morgan. How appropriate that I should find myself, very recently, talking about Dave with somebody I'd never met before, in Dave's homeland, among his fellow Australian seafarers, in the building of a maritime union still very much practicing the same Leftwing, anti-war, blue-collar militancy and proletarian internationalism which were the hallmarks of Dave Morgan.

The MUA is an old school fighting union. Dave would have been right at home in that gathering. It's a cliché but Dave Morgan truly was a giant of New Zealand working class history. For a whole lot of reasons - ranging from the diminished power of unions to the changed nature of both work and society - we won't see his like again. More's the pity.

GERRY HILL

- Murray Horton

Gerry Hill, along with his partner Sally James, was a CAFCA member for 30 years, up until his death (in January 2020, aged 65). They were foundation pledgers, from 1991, to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which provides my income, and remained so for the subsequent three decades. I am deeply thankful to Gerry and Sally for being among those who make my work possible.

I met Sally first. It was highly memorable. In 1987 I made my first visit to the Philippines, on an exposure tour, and Sally was spending a year in Manila working for a local NGO. We both made a visit to the country's southern main island, Mindanao. It was tiger country then and still is today. Back in NZ she was living in Wellington and it was when she and Gerry moved to Auckland at the end of the 80s that I first met him.

Over the following decades I sometimes stayed at their place and always got together with them whenever I was in Auckland for things like CAFCA speaking tours or Roger Award events or accompanying touring Filipino speakers. They were unfailingly generous hosts and companions. Gerry was always keen to show me what his beloved Ponsonby had to offer by way of restaurants, cafes and bars.

Spending time with them was always a lot of fun - I last saw Gerry at his 60th birthday party, which coincided with my being in Auckland during my 2014 CAFCA speaking tour. When I was most recently in Auckland, for the last ever Roger Award event (in 2017), I remember my horror when Sally told me that Gerry had been diagnosed with the cruel and inevitably fatal motor neurone disease.

Gerry did not let the disease define him. He approached death calmly. This is from an e-mail he sent to friends just weeks before he died: "My breathing problems and other issues of motor neurone disease, which also took out my sister Yvonne in March 2016, are finally catching up with me, and my time is now limited on this Earth. Nobody knows the day that I will travel to the promised land, but we now know that my system is so weak that I will not be able to stay around too much longer".

"I'd like to acknowledge you all for your friendship and support. Those of you who have travelled to Ponsonby to see me, I feel treasured to have friends such as you. This is not to diminish the friendship of others who I care about and have shared something of my life with. Sally has been a saint and the toll on her has been high. I know that you will wrap Sally in the clover of love. Best wishes to you all and may we all enjoy a good summer. Gerry" ("Update From Gerry", 15/12/19). RIP, old mate.

GERARD HILL: 13 May 1954 - 4 January 2020

A Tribute To My Friend And Comrade, Gerry Hill

- Len Richards

Gerry Hill was my close friend and comrade. Gerry lost his battle with motor neurone disease (MND) on the first Saturday of the new decade. Over three years the degeneration gradually destroyed the nerves that controlled the operation of his muscles, but it never dimmed his spirit or his mind. Gerry had a recall of events and people that astounded me; a memory like a steel trap. To ask Gerry a question about political or union history, knowing he would be able to supply the answer, risked a lengthy monologue that would try many peoples' patience but I was always fascinated by the level of detail he could regale you with. Gerry was our very own Wikipedia of Aotearoa (and further afield).

Gerry carried with pride the famous surname of his father Toby who, along with the legendary Jock Barnes, led the 1951 Waterside Workers' Union battle against the employers' lockout. This was a near-revolutionary confrontation between the organised working class and the post-war National government of Syd Holland.

Workers belonging to other unions, including the miners, seamen, meat workers, hydro-dam construction workers, cement factory workers, railwaymen, drivers, labourers, painters, carpenters, hotel workers and others all opposed the draconian measures introduced by the Government and gave their support to the watersiders. Tens of thousands of workers went out on strike (or were locked out). The full force of the State was mobilised against them.

Toby Hill's Wellington branch of the Waterside Workers' Union was never broken in the 151-day dispute. They went back to work virtually intact. Gerry was understandably proud of his father, and equally his mother, Flo, who was a fighter for peace and social justice in her own right. Both his mother and father died before their time. Sister Yvonne played a big part in Gerry's life after his Mum fell ill and finally passed away when he was 15. Toby died "unexpectedly" in 1977. He was the Secretary of the Cooks and Stewards Union at the time.

Unionist, Humanitarian, Hotelier

Gerry went to sea as a steward on NZ-based cargo ships in September 1974, at the age of 20. He spent the next decade and a half travelling the Australasian, Pacific Island and South and Far East Asian routes. Smuggling goods (and sometimes people; referred to as "ring-bolting") was common practice. Gerry was active in the Cooks and Stewards Union and in 1988 won a contested election for the Auckland Secretary role. Later (in 1990) he was elected (again in a contested race) to be the Assistant Auckland Secretary of the newly formed Seafarers Union.

One of his achievements he was most proud of was Operation Hope in 1984. Motivated by TV coverage of the Ethiopian war and the famine in the Horn of Africa, Gerry was instrumental in getting the backing of other unions and the NGO CORSO to raise $3.4 million for the Operation Hope relief project. Bob Geldof's Live Aid initiative at the time was inspired by the same horrific scenes. The Union Steamship Company was convinced to supply a ship for Operation Hope, the Ngahere (gratis), and a volunteer crew ensured that the cargo of vital food and other relief supplies was safely shipped to South Sudan. Gerry was on board as the Chief Steward.

Gerry and his partner Sally James, who met at an anti-Springbok tour protest in 1981, created the Great Ponsonby Art Hotel in the late 1990s. The local Ponsonby News, in a feature article in 2017, just after Gerry was diagnosed with his degenerative disease, wrote: "(Gerry and Sally) are famous for their hospitality, locally and internationally. You haven't been anywhere if you haven't been to breakfast at The Great Ponsonby."

I can vouch for this endorsement, having partaken of that sumptuous breakfast, hand-cooked by Gerry (and/or Sally), on more than one occasion. And they are right about the hospitality as well. After one of those wonderful evenings, eating, drinking and watching a rugby match on TV at their home next door, Sally and Gerry invited us to stay overnight in the best room in the hotel - no charge.

Gerry and Sally were fastidious about treating their staff well. Many current and past staff members visited Gerry to wish him well when they heard about his illness. As John Roughan of the NZ Herald wrote in a touching tribute to Gerry: "Some people touch you so deeply you feel like a lifelong friend though you've met them only two or three times. Gerry Hill, who died last Saturday, was one of those. I imagine everyone who met Gerry liked him very much" ("Tireless Crusader Gerry Hill Had Many Moments In The Sun", 11/1/20).

I will leave the last words to the man himself. This is from his 13-page self-authored eulogy, a summary of which was read at the self-curated "Celebration of Gerry's Life" in the Grey Lynn RSL on Saturday, 11 January. "Nothing has ever come my way easily. Occasionally things have fallen into my hands, but most of what I have ever done has been hard work. Yes, I am proud of Operation Hope. I am proud of what Sally and I achieved at the Great Ponsonby Art Hotel. It was hard yacka; it didn't just happen. I celebrate my foibles and my fuck-ups with my friends - and there are many - but the beautiful thing about life is that we have a life, and we live it".

"Having this motor neurone disease has ripped more than a decade away from my life and means I am not going to enjoy the pleasures of ageing and moaning collectively with everybody about the loss of mobility and strength and such. There are pills now going to be available for everything that are going to make things even more enjoyable for people in their 80s and 90s. The thing about it is that if you get a deal like I've been dealt with, you can't be a sad sack. You've got to go all out, put a smile on your dial, see events, do events, and be seen. People will say: 'Oh he's up there in a wheelchair!''; the fact of the matter is that if you want to do anything, you can do that (even in a wheelchair)."

MND slowed Gerry down a lot, but he made up for the loss of his bodily mobility with his wheelchair escapades. He flew around the Ponsonby streets, and far beyond at times, with his faithful canine companion, Kuini, in tow; often to the amazement of friends and passers-by. Kia kaha my friend. Arohanui.

NOZZ FLETCHER

- Murray Horton

Nozz Fletcher, who died in December 2019 in Marlborough, aged 88, was a CAFCA member (off and on) between 1999 and 2008. I knew Nozz as a regular participant at Anti-Bases Campaign's Waihopai spy base protests in the late 90s and early years of this century (interestingly he never actually joined ABC). During that time, he was one of the vital crew of Marlborough locals that ABC absolutely depends on to make those protests happen. Tribute was paid to Nozz at the January 2020 one at the spy base gate.

He was a ball of energy - in those days he was the age I am now (late 60s) - and was into everything. One year, ABC ran a Best Dressed Spy contest in central Blenheim (Greens Co-Leader Rod Donald* was the MC) and Nozz's enthusiastic theatricality came to the fore in that (although he didn't win - for the record, it was veteran Blenheim anti-bases activist, Evin Wood). * My obituary of Rod Donald is in Watchdog 110, December 2005.

Nozz was a wonderful host. In 1998 ABC held a strategy meeting in Waikawa Bay, near Picton. Nozz and Alison invited us all to their beautiful home on a hillside overlooking the bay. It happened to coincide with the 60th birthday of ABC founder and leader, Bob Leonard*. That was a birthday party Bob never forgot. Alison was the Picton and Blenheim organiser of my 1999 CAFCA national speaking tour and she and Nozz hosted me in their beautiful home. * My obituary of Bob Leonard is in Watchdog 134, January 2014.

Nozz remained an activist, specifically on climate change and environmental issues, right through his 80s and up until near the end of his life. "At 88-years-old, he joked his last act would be to drown in front of an oil rig. That would be the ultimate, final attempt to raise awareness about climate change, he said" (Marlborough Express, 23/12/19, "Marlborough Climate Activist Nozz Fletcher Dies", Alice Angeloni). He was an activist for 60 years and he lived long enough to see many of the issues on which he campaigned become mainstream.

NOZZ FLETCHER

- Jennie Crum

Nozz Fletcher was a man of many names. Born Norman Duncan Fletcher, his grandchildren had referred to him as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and he certainly was a big man in spirit and energy as well as height. Changing his name to a childhood one of Nozz was in response to a series of his usual insightful and informative letters to the editor being attributed to Norma Fletcher, Norm Fletcher and finally Normal Fletcher. That was too much. He wrote to the paper announcing that from now on he would be known as Nozz Fletcher as he certainly didn't regard himself as normal.

He had as many faces as names; a family man, the consummate activist, a political junkie, a sports fanatic, an actor, a writer, raconteur, environmentalist, and propagator and planter of herbs and native trees that now grow in his memory from one end of NZ to the other. Born in West Kerby near Liverpool in 1931, Nozz studied the Classics at Cambridge before following the desire for world travel that his Merchant Navy father had instilled in him, leading initially to living five years in Africa working for a vertical textile company.

Nozz then followed a Kiwi friend to New Zealand in 1961, no visa or work permits, he just walked off the boat and got a job, settling in Auckland and eventually meeting and marrying Ngaire Christiansen. It was through Ngaire who was Whakatohea from Opotiki that spurred his attempts to learn Te Reo, not altogether successfully, but he was heartened by the elders telling him how much they appreciated him trying. He and Ngaire had two children who travelled the length of NZ with them as he worked representing a publishing company.

Green Party Grassroots Activist

In Auckland he became really involved with theatre which lead to parts in several TV series, and it was the theatrical side of Nozz that later did him well in many a political activism stunt. Painted gold to stand as a living statue raising money for the Greens, dressed as a spy at a Waihopai spy base protest and his Greenie the scarecrow was always a great success. He even won a prize at the A&P show in the scarecrow competition with it, apparently feeling mortified as he'd only done it for a joke and the kids had put a lot of work into their entries.

Ngaire sadly died of cancer when the children were teenagers and Nozz ended up meeting Alison through a Values Party friend. Always a man with a big heart he ended up with a big family too as Alison came with her three children and four of a friend's children she fostered. Family life wasn't busy enough to keep him from contributing to his community whenever he saw the need.

His concern for the environment started with Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" and become stronger over the years as more and more issues surfaced. He actively campaigned for the environment and social justice through his letter writing, articles, drama, street theatre, living statues, National Radio opinion pieces and even his Wordsworth Listener contributions.

He got involved wholeheartedly with many groups; in early days with the Whangapoua Environmental Society managing to get enough support to stop the development at Matarangi being able to discharge raw sewage into the harbour. Nozz and Alison were active with Coromandel Watchdog and, at one demonstration, he sat in front of the bulldozer at the top of Black Jack's Road to stop the prospectors going onto private land.

Later when the children became independent Nozz and Alison moved south to a steep gorse covered section in the Marlborough Sounds that over the years Nozz planted back to a beautiful bush covered hillside. It was in Marlborough that Nozz and Ali got involved with the fledgling Green Party and the two of them became the public front of the Party every Saturday at the car boot sale setting up a Greens’ stall, and over the years sold thousands of native plants that Nozz had lovingly propagated and grown, raising much needed funds for the Party while spreading the indigenous message.

Nozz's acting ability, big voice and occasional absolutely outrageous costume helped draw people in to stalls whenever and wherever they were. He showed people that environmental concern could also be allied with fun, flair and good humour. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Earth Day, Conservation Week, Kaipupu Point, Men's Shed and many more, Nozz was always there striving for the betterment of us all, supporting in so many ways.

East Timor, Waihopai

In 1999 when the East Timor Independence Committee lead by Maire Leadbeater held a protest at Woodbourne Airforce Base in Blenheim Nozz was quoted in the newspaper calling: "They're killing East Timorese every day, while Safe Air is making hay". Safe Air was refitting two Indonesian Skyhawks that had already been used in East Timor bombing attacks against civilians by the Indonesian military and the demo got good coverage.

Nozz was a regular attendee at the Waihopai spy base protests. Don Murray remembered him collecting ragwort from around the campsite on one of the demos. "A sort of metaphor. He noted that so many "townies" didn't recognise that particular form of noxious weed in our country, along with US goons, ginks and finks!"

It wasn't always good humour that he used. When supporting the fledgling Guardians of the Sounds group in their fight against the fast ferry damage to local shorelines, the District Council members were being threatened with personal law suits by the ferry operator's lawyers and things were looking dire. Nozz rose up to his full height, finger pointing accusingly: "How DARE you threaten these hardworking people". And we all know where those fast ferries ended up.

As Tim Newsham of the Marlborough Environment Centre said at his memorial: "Nozz, we expect your passion and spirit will continue to be the impetus for us left carrying the can to continue your work. And your example will guide us to pursue today's and tomorrow's challenges not out of anger and frustration, but with your love for humanity and all life forms, and the belief and knowledge that drove you, that the world that you seemed to enjoy so much, can be even better". RIP Nozz.