Events

Eloise Wallace is the Director of Te Unua Museum of Southland. She moved to Southland to take up this role in January this year, after almost nine years as Director of Tairāwhiti Museum in Gisborne. Eloise has worked in the museum sector for over 20 years in roles in the UK and New Zealand, and has been Co-Chair of Museums Aotearoa, the national body for museum and galleries since 2021.  She also serves as a trustee with the Air Force Museum of New Zealand.

Peter Dunn grew up in the village of Waikaka north of Gore, then in Gore itself. He attended Gore High School (as it was called then). He did a carpentry apprenticeship in Gore and as a tradesman worked in Gore, Athol and Invercargill. In 1984 he was accepted for ministry training in the Presbyterian Church, completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Divinity in Systematic Theology through Otago University. In 1990 Peter and Helen were called to the Waipu Parish forty minutes south of Whangarei, a great place to raise five children with its sticky climate, bare feet in the winter, beautiful beaches, and the smokestacks of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery not far away. The Northland experience did create at least one family rift. Dad supports the Highlanders or the Southland Stags, the boys support the Blues or the Northland Taniwha. Peter is not a scientist but is well-versed in the scientific method. In his vocation, he reads widely and contributes to the Climate Change discussions within the Presbyterian Church. This task will increase next year as he takes up the elected role of the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. Peter is looking forward to doing a practice run with the club presenting thoughts and comparisons from the latest debates of interest on climate change.

Senga White is a local history storyteller, podcaster and educator. She is also the heritage
events and activities project manager for Heritage South and is passionate about sharing
the history stories that have helped shape our province.
Under her Senga’s Stories brand, she has been telling tales at 360 at the Langlands over a
cuppa or a glass of bubbles and, as part of her History Detectives in Action education
programme, she can be spotted in her pink jacket taking classes from local schools on
Walking Tour Experiences around the Invercargill CBD or along the Otepuni sharing the
history of our city with the younger generation. She has plans to develop these into local
history walking tours as a visitor experience and a fun, informative family activity for the
community.
Senga has a series of local history podcasts in pre-production and, as the co-host and
researcher for Check It Out on Radio Southland, she created episodes, including a series to
complement the South Invercargill Heritage Trail, which you can listen to through the Check
It Out page on Spotify https://spoti.fi/4g9E9RT.
What she loves best is connecting with people through stories and personal recollections, so
reach out to her at info@sengawhite.nz or join her mailing list https://bit.ly/sengastories to
keep up to date with future talks, walks and history snippets.

Nicola Jenkins ( Nicola's family photo, including twins, has already been shown on our website)

Nicola is an insurance financial adviser for Total Life. Beyond her professional commitment, Nicola is a devoted wife and mother of four (including twins). Two years ago her family relocated to Invercargill and have enjoyed exploring the South Island’s scenic beauty. Nicola is proud of her Māori heritage; her iwi include Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngaruahine. Nicola is the Secretary and Grants Co-ordinator for the Multiple Birth Club.

Sarah Miller (Sarah's family photo, including triplets)

Sarah works as the Accounts Manager at Agribusiness Consultants. Prior to this Sarah worked as a Data Analyst within the tertiary education sector for 10 years after completing her Bachelor of Commerce at Otago University and her Accounting Traineeship with a local accounting firm. Sarah and her husband Bevan own a small lifestyle block on the outskirts of Invercargill and have four children (including triplets). Outside of work, her children keep her busy with their sporting schedules. Sarah is a born and bred Southlander who enjoys hunting and hiking, and is the Treasurer and Newsletter Co-ordinator for the Multiple Birth Club.

Matt has been the CE of Presbyterian Support Southland (PSS) since February last year. Having grown up in Southland Matt returned to Invercargill almost 7 years ago with his wife Rohan (also from Invercargill) and their 2 daughters (aged 8 and 9) after 18 years away. Although Matt has an infrastructure and construction-centric background, he is enjoying the challenges and learnings associated with the for-purpose work that PSS is committed to in the Aged-Care and Social Services sectors.

Dean Addie is the Co-founder, CEO, and CRO of T4 Group.

Dean also co-founded EIS in 1996 and sold out in 2023 to allow the young ones to do their thing.

He studied at the school of hard knocks. He is still studying. Dean led EIS through safety culture change that culminated in 700,000 hours lost time incident free.

Dean is a family man who enjoys family times and spending time with friends. He enjoys reading and cooking. He is referred to as Gordon Ramsay; not due to his cooking ability but due to his propensity to swear if anything goes wrong in the kitchen.

Dean is an active member of society and enjoys giving back.

Dean's current associations:

Director of T4 Group

Founder and member of Saints All Male Choir

Board member of Invercargill Airport

Chair of ENGAGE – The Southland Engineering and Manufacturing Cluster

Chair of Dog Island Motu Piu Trust

Chartered member of IoD

Fellow of NZ Institute of Management

Dean's past associations:

Deputy Chair of Graham Dingle Foundation Southland

Board member of:

GreatSouth

Southland Chamber of Commerce

The electrical training company

Council member of:

Southern Institute of Technology

Board member New Zealand Institute of Management

Past member of:

Invercargill Sunrise Rotary

Grand Toastmasters

If I live to 120 and my golf doesn’t get worse I will achieve my goal of shooting my age!

Dean is passionate about developing people and building strong relationships.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata!, he tangata!, he tangata!

Sumaria is the General Manager of Awarua Syneryy. She founded Bluff Healthy Homes Research & Education Project which developed into Awarua Synergy serving Southland delivering insulation, heating, hot water solutions, LED lighting solar PV systems, wind turbines. The company employs 15-22 staff seasonally, 14 sub-contractors, and business working relationships with local councils, social services, local & national, and private funders.

Ivan Hodgetts is a Principal Advisor Secondary Transitions at the Ministry of Education. For the last three years he has been seconded to Murihiku Regeneration to lead the capability strategy Te Ara Aukati Kore (pathways without barriers). Ivan is a former Rotarian and prior to his role at the Ministry was CEO of YMCA Invercargill.