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Janet Holm

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Janet Rutherford Holm MBE (née Morse, 12 August 1923 – 14 July 2018) was a New Zealand environmental activist and historian.[1][2]

Biography

Holm was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1923 and grew up on a farm near Waiau in North Canterbury. She attended Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch and studied English and philosophy at Canterbury University College, and Victoria University College in Wellington.[1]

Environmental work

In 1966, Holm moved back to Christchurch and decided to take action against the city's ongoing problems with smog in the winters. She joined the Clean Air Society and served as secretary and president. The society was successful in having the city recognise the role of open fires in homes in the production of smog, and as a result the city passed an open-fire ban.[2] She also worked with the Clean Air Council, the NZ Association for Environmental Education, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Action on Smoking and Health. In 1972, Holm was a representative to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden.[1]

In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Holm was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the environmental movement.[3] In 2004, she received the Outstanding Contribution Award from Environment Canterbury for her work for clean air and environmental education in the Canterbury Region.[1]

Historical work

In the 1980s, Holm returned to the University of Canterbury to complete a master's degree in history; she wrote her thesis on her grandfather George and his six siblings, and later published the research as a book, Nothing but Grass and Wind. She was also a keen genealogist and travelled the country visiting cemeteries and photographing headstones. The Canterbury History Foundation awarded Holm the 2005 A. C. Rhodes Memorial Award in recognition of this work. In the same year, she published her book on the lives of early surveyors, and became the first woman appointed an honorary member of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors.[1][2]

Publications

  • Nothing but Grass and Wind: The Rutherfords of Canterbury. Christchurch, N.Z.: Hazard Press, 1992.[4]
  • Caught Mapping: The Life and Times of New Zealand's Early Surveyors. Christchurch, N.Z.: Hazard Press, 2005.[5]
  • On Zealand's Hills, Where Tigers Steal Along. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 2008.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Life story: 'Eccentric' North Canterbury woman Janet Holm was unconventional and proud". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Janet Holm Prize in History honours remarkable Cantabrian". Intercom | Pā mai tō reo. University of Canterbury. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  3. ^ "No. 51367". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 June 1988. p. 34.
  4. ^ Holm, Janet (1992). Nothing but grass and wind: the Rutherfords of Canterbury. Christchurch, N.Z.: Hazard Press. ISBN 9780908790500. OCLC 1083733395.
  5. ^ Holm, Janet (2005). Caught mapping: the life and times of New Zealand's early surveyors. Christchurch, N.Z.: Hazard Press. OCLC 636380050.
  6. ^ Holm, Janet (2008). On Zealand's hills, where tigers steal along. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts. ISBN 9781877448256. OCLC 213411206.
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