Global acclaim in wrestling, writing, composing, designing and wood-chopping has seen six more Te Awamutu locals inducted into the town’s prestigious Walk of Fame.
The Selwyn Park attraction, opened by Kingi Tuheita in 2009, recognises and celebrates local identities who achieve world recognition in their fields. Today’s announcement means there are now 34 prominent individuals honoured.
The latest inductees include father and son wrestling experts and competitors Brian Stannett and Shane Stannett, equestrian cross-country course designer John Nicholson, world record holder and wood-chopping legend Jason Wynyard, internationally-acclaimed composer Dr Michael Williams and best-selling author Heather Morris.
Inductees must have been born in Te Awamutu or its environs, or achieved their notable success as a resident.
- International wrestler Shane Stannett began his career representing Te Awamutu College, before going on to win both junior and senior national championship titles. Between 1982-94, Stannett was an Olympic freestyle wrestling competitor in Commonweath Games, Oceania and World Championships as well as the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
- Kihikihi’s John Nicholson is well-known in the equestrian world as atop cross-country course designer. Nicholson designed the course for the Kihikihi International Horse Trials, rapidly expanding his reputation across the globe and including course design for the prestigious Asian Games in South Korea and Indonesia.
- Te Awamutu-born Jason Wynyard (Ngati Maniapoto, Ngapuhi) has won more than 200 world woodchopping titles and is the current holder of five world wood-chopping records. He has won the STIHL world championships nine times, the USA STIHL Timbersports series 10 times and the Lumberjack world championships 16 times consecutively. Wynyard was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the sport of wood-chopping in 2017.
- International composer Dr Michael Williams grew up in Te Awamutu before eventually settling in Melbourne to attend Australia’s most prestigious music institution, the Conservatorium of Music. After living in Melbourne for 15 years, he returned to New Zealand in 1998 and in 2000 was appointed lecturer at the University of Waikato, gaining his PhD through Melbourne University in 2015. Williams’ work is in demand internationally and has also been commissioned by the NZ Symphony Orchestra, NBR New Zealand Opera and Chamber Music New Zealand. His opera ‘The Juniper Passion’ has been performed in Italy to critical acclaim.
- Brian Stannett has more than half a century’s involvement in Olympic freestyle wrestling. Stannett joined the Te Awamutu YMI Wrestling Club in 1955 and went on to compete internationally, plus hold positions as team manager, coach, official and referee at multiple world senior championships, Commonwealth Games and Oceania Championships.Stannett has been recognised and lauded by the New Zealand Olympic Wrestling Union and became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018.
- An announcement that international author, Pirongia-born Heather Morris would be inducted was made in December 2019, when Morris returned Te Awamutu to launch ‘Cilka’s Journey’, a sequel to her best-selling novel, ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’. The book is now being made into a six-part mini-series. Morris attended Te Awamutu College before moving to Melbourne soon after leaving school. Her non-fiction book ‘In Stories of Hope, details stories of growing up in Pirongia.
Prior to the announcement about Morris in 2019, international researcher Dr Graham Jamieson (posthumously) and Member of Parliament Katherine O’Regan, QSO,were the last inductees in August 2017. Others to be honoured include Rewi Maniapoto, Neil and Tim Finn, Philip Tataurangi and Sir Grant Hammond.
The six new inductees were assessed by a working group made up of Mayor Jim Mylchreest, Councillor Clare St Pierre, Te Awamutu Community Board Chair Ange Holt, Community Board member Richard Hurrell and community representatives Dean Taylor and Chris Bradley.
The Walk of Fame is currently being refurbished with existing pou to be spruced up and information updated. An official event to honour the new inductees will be held later in the year.
