Tom Newnham

Thomas Oliver "Tom" Newnham QSO (20 November 1926 – 15 December 2010) was a New Zealand political activist and educationalist. He was involved in several left wing causes: attacking institutional racism in New Zealand, and opposing the 1981 Springbok Tour and apartheid in general (both carried out in his role as Secretary of CARE).[1]

He spoke Cantonese and Mandarin fluently after living in China and was heavily involved in helping Chinese immigrants in his later years. He wrote the book Dr Bethune's Angel: The Life of Kathleen Hall about the New Zealand missionary nurse who worked with the Canadian physician, Dr Norman Bethune, in China in the 1930s.[1]

In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Newnham was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.[2]

Newnham died on 15 December 2010 from cancer, aged 84, at Elizabeth Knox Hospital, Epsom.[3][4]

1981 protest against Springboks in Hamilton (New Zealand), right Tom Newnham
1989 Tom Newnham at Kathleen Hall's village China
2000 Tom Newnham at Kathleen Hall commemoration in Baoding, China

Books by Tom Newnham

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Anti-apartheid fighter Tom Newnham dies". TVNZ. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  2. London Gazette (supplement), No. 51367, 10 June 1988. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  3. "Human rights campaigner Tom Newnham dies". Radio New Zealand. 16 December 2010.
  4. "Thomas Oliver Newnham". The New Zealand Herald. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  5. Chris (17 February 2004). "Conscience of a nation". LeafSalon. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  6. Geoff Chapple. "The long march". New Zealand Listener (Feb 21, 2004) (3328).
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