Massey's graduation ceremony

Something very nice happened this week. My old employer, Massey University, awarded me an honorary Doctor of Science degree at its Wellington graduation ceremony. The picture here shows me with my good friend, Tony Signal, Professor of Physics at Massey. I may look like a tiny older man, but this is simply because Tony is a very tall younger man.

Miang and I were guests of honour at a special black tie dinner put on at the Museum building campus on Wednesday night, on the eve of the graduation ceremony. At the ceremony, my friend and former Massey colleague, David Parry, made the oration for the award, and then I got to give the graduation address to a packed Michel Fowler Centre.

I was rather taken aback when the audience burst into spontaneous applause before I had finished my speech, and while I was strongly criticising the government for proposing to mine our National Parks. The part of my speech that produced this reaction was:

"National Parks help define who we are, they are places we go to replenish the soul, to remind us of what is important in life. They are our covenant with the future, our gift to our children and their children. That we should hold in perpetuity their pristine character, against the desire to exploit, is precisely what makes them remarkable and unique, belonging to all of us as a symbol of our democratic values."

I have to admit, the phrase, "covenant with the future", is not mine, but the American writer Terry Tempest Williams, who used this term to describe America's National Parks. Here you may see a link with an earlier blog posting of mine.

One thing is certain, judging from the response of what looked to me like a broad cross section of New Zealand present in that audience, feelings about this issue run very deep in this country.

Footnote: The following report appeared on Massey's website
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle=callaghan-condemns-mining-proposal-28-05-2010