Helen Hughes (botanist) explained

Helen Hughes
Order:1st
Office:Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Term Start:1987
Term End:1996
Successor:Morgan Williams
Birth Name:Helen Hannah Rigg
Birth Date:29 August 1929
Birth Place:Nelson, New Zealand
Spouse:David Crowther Hughes
Relations:Theodore Rigg (father)
Kathleen Curtis (stepmother)
Alma Mater:Canterbury University College

Helen Hannah Rigg Hughes (née Rigg; born 29 August 1929) is a New Zealand botanist. She served as New Zealand's first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment from 1987 to 1996.

Early life and family

Hughes was born Helen Hannah Rigg in Nelson on 29 August 1929, the daughter of agricultural scientist Theodore Rigg, who became director of the Cawthron Institute in 1933, and Esther Rigg (née White).[1] [2] She grew up in the suburb of Tāhunanui, and was educated at Nelson College for Girls, where she discovered her passion for botany.[1] [3] Rigg went on to complete a Master of Science degree with first-class honours in botany at Canterbury University College, graduating in 1952.[4] Her thesis was titled An ecological survey of the pakihi lands of the Westport District, Nelson.[5] She was awarded a Fulbright grant to travel to the United States, and studied at Vassar College from 1952 to 1954, earning a Master of Science degree.[1] [2] [6]

Rigg married David Crowther Hughes in 1955, and the couple had four children.[1] [2]

Career

After returning to New Zealand from the United States, Helen Hughes taught at secondary schools in Christchurch and later Wellington.[3] In 2017, she recalled that jobs for women in science at the time were hard to come by and there was "a bit of an old boys network operating".

Hughes' first science job was in Fiji for three years, working for the Fiji Department of Agriculture looking at water weed issues. She then worked for DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) developing Environmental Impact reports. She moved on to become Assistant Commissioner for the Commission for the Environment, before becoming the first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in 1987, following the creation of that role by the Environment Act 1986.

During her tenure, she wrote numerous reports and submissions on a variety of environmental issues,[7] including flood mitigations following Cyclone Bola,[8] controlling marine oil pollution,[9] the environmental management of coal mining,[10] and possum management.[11]

From 1997 to 2002, Hughes was a member of the board of the Environmental Risk Management Authority. She also spent 13 years as a member of the Cawthron Institute's trust board.

Hughes has written a biography of her father, A Quaker Scientist, published in 2005.

Honours and awards

In 1990, Hughes was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[2] In 1993, she was one of the first two people to be awarded honorary doctorates by the newly independent Lincoln University, being conferred with an honorary DSc.[6] [12] Later that year, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Hughes is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.[13]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interview with Helen Hughes . National Library of New Zealand . 5 September 2020.
  2. Book: Taylor . Alister . Coddington . Deborah . Alister Taylor . Deborah Coddington . Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand . 1994 . New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa . Auckland . 0-908578-34-2 . 122.
  3. News: Science in the genes for celebrated botanist . Stuff.co.nz . 8 March 2017 . Sara . Meij . 5 September 2020.
  4. Web site: NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Q–R . Shadows of time . 5 September 2020.
  5. Rigg . H. . 1951 . Masters thesis . An ecological survey of the pakihi lands of the Westport District, Nelson . UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury . 10092/6571 . 10.26021/6282 .
  6. Web site: New Zealand leading world in conservation laws says honorary doctorate recipient . 3 February 1993 . Lincoln University . 5 September 2020.
  7. Web site: PCE Archive. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 5 August 2017.
  8. Web site: Inquiry into Flood Mitigation Measures Following Cyclone Bola. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 5 August 2017. December 1988.
  9. Web site: The Control of Marine Oil Pollution in NZ – A Review of the System. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 5 August 2017. April 1991.
  10. Web site: Environmental Management of Coal Mining. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 5 August 2017. December 1992.
  11. Web site: Possum Management in New Zealand. Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 5 August 2017. May 1994.
  12. Web site: Former honorary doctorate recipients . 2018 . Lincoln University . 21 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180109181957/https://lincoln.site-ym.com/?HonDoc_medalists . 9 January 2018 . dead .
  13. Web site: List of Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand . Royal Society Te Apārangi . 5 September 2020.