Gavin O’Donnell epitomises all of the qualities necessary to be awarded a Queen’s Service Medal.
The award recognises recipient’s voluntary service to the community - in Gavin’s case the rural community.
The award was part of the New Year’s Honours List, 2024. At the end of May, Gavin, his wife Sue, and their family attended a ceremony at Government House in Wellington, where Gavin was honoured with the Queen’s Service Medal, to recognise his service to the rural community and conservation.
Gavin is renowned for his farming contacts and wide range of voluntary rural involvements across the top of the South Island, including Golden Bay, Tasman, Nelson, and more recently Marlborough since relocating to Havelock on retirement.
He said that receiving the QSM and being involved in the ceremony was a moving and memorable experience that he was thrilled to share with his family.
Gavin played a key role in setting up the Ministry for Primary Industries Rural Advisory Group (RAG), and various roles with Nelson Federated Farmers, including as Chairman from 2011 to 2014, Treasurer from 2014 to 2022, and previously Meat and Wool Representative from 1996 to 2000.
He is a member of the Nelson Tasman Primary Cluster Adverse Events Network. He is also a voluntary member of a range of environmental groups in the Nelson/Tasman areas, including Federated Farmers Trustee on the Tasman Environmental Trust Board, Waimea Fresh Water and Land Advisory Group, Biodiversity Forum, Regional Pest Management, and Tasman Bay Guardians.
Gavin helped landowners following 2017 Cyclone Gita, contacting people affected by slips and flooding in the area, and was a Waimea Rural Fire Authority Emergency Response Team member. During the Pigeon Valley fire, he was part of the initial response management team with logistics and resources responsibilities.
In 2011, Gavin organised teams to repair fences following an adverse weather event hitting coastal Nelson and more recently helped with on-the-ground intelligence, donated feed supply logistics and allocation, following the 2022 flooding that impacted many areas in the Sounds, Marlborough, and Nelson.
During that time, he was appointed a Marlborough Rural Support Trust Facilitator.
He has been a volunteer firefighter since 2006, a member of the Waimea Rural Fire Emergency Management Team, and a committee member of the Ngatimoti Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade. Gavin was involved with the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s planning and development of the new Canterbury A&P showgrounds from 1992 to 2000.
