David Andross Farquhar CNZM (1928–2007) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1941. David was a distinguished composer, and Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music. David was the founder-president of the Composers Association of New Zealand, and was later awarded their Citation for Services to New Zealand Music. David composed over 100 works during his lifetime, and is best known for his theatre music, in particular Ring Round the Moon (1953) and A Unicorn for Christmas (1962), which was performed for Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to New Zealand in 1963. He was made Professor of Music at Victoria University in 1976, and held the position until retirement 17 years later. David was guest of honour at the St Peter’s 70th anniversary celebration in 2007, where he cut the ribbon to our school gates and generously spent time with our music composition students.
Shayle Robert Searle FASA FRSS FRSNZ (1928–2013) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1941. Shayle was a New Zealand mathematician who was professor emeritus of biological statistics at Cornell University, and a leader in the field of linear and mixed models in statistics. He was one of the first statisticians to use matrix algebra in statistical methodology and was an early advocate for using applied statistical techniques in animal breeding. Shayle received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation USA Senior Scientist Award, and was a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society, and the Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2005 he was given an honorary Doctor of Science by his alma mater — Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Adrian Rood Tarte CBE (1928–2012) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1941. Adrian was a pioneering environmentalist and is credited with revolutionising the production of coconut oil in Fiji. He created the first certified organic coconut farm in Fiji and used a totally sustainable renewable energy source to power the entire plantation and plant facilities. His business was renowned for its high level of innovation, social responsibility and being an important source of employment for the local community. Adrian was awarded a CBE in 1982 for his service to the copra industry and community.
Adam Brown attended St Peters from 1992 until 1998 and was a "7 Year Club" member. He founded the Protempo group of companies from his bedroom whilst at Victoria University in 2004, which has grown and evolved into a multinational distributor of consumer electronics operating in 6 countries and 4 continents with revenue in excess of $100 million. The company distributes and manages forward and reverse logistics globally for the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon, Wacom, Microsoft and many others. It also supplies many of the world's largest retailers, as well as running direct-to-customer ecommerce sales shipping to over 30 countries worldwide. Protempo was recognized by Deloitte in 2017's Master of Growth index as New Zealand's 2nd fastest growing company (behind Xero) between 2012 and 2017, and has been in the Fast 50 index 4 times in the last 7 years. As part of the company's US expansion, Adam relocated to Orange Country, California where the company's US headquarters is based.
Adam was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award for his services to business.
Peter Miles Otway (1936–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1950. Peter is an Antarctic explorer, geologist and surveyor — the Otway massif in the Grosvenor mountains was named after him by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition. In 1969 Peter was awarded a polar medal by the government of the United Kingdom for his exploration efforts. After training as a surveyor in the 1950s Peter began his Antarctic exploration in the early 1960s, much of it by dog sledge. He has lectured on his experiences in the Antarctic and has been featured in National Geographic magazine. He has also worked in Libya and Iran, where he was kidnapped by bandits. When he was shot at, the bullet hit and was deflected by his father’s binoculars which were slung around his neck — Peter kept the bullet! Peter credits his interest in the Antarctic to a class trip he went on at St Peter’s as a twelve year old boarder to see the film, Scott of the Antarctic! In his book on exploring the Transantarctic Mountains he writes, “I am also convinced that my five years spent earlier at St Peter’s immersed in the Christian ethics of honest endeavour promoted by the no-nonsense founding headmaster, Mr Broadhurst, also stood me in good stead for life’s challenges ahead.” Peter has generously donated a copy of his fantastic book to our school library.
George Hubbard Makgill CBE (1934–2003) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1947. George was the 13th Viscount of Oxfuird, a Scottish peer, and deputy speaker and deputy chair of committees in the House of Lords of the UK. George also served on the joint committee for statutory instruments, the hybrid bills committee and the offices committee, while also being a vice-chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers. He was one of the hereditary peers elected to continue as members of the Lords when most other hereditary peers lost their seats. George studied civil engineering in New Zealand before returning to the UK where he joined the Royal Air Force and learned to fly Hunter jets. George was known for his transparency, honesty, considerable charm, and a penchant for quoting Rudyard Kipling. He had a great sense of adventure and is infamous for trying to row between the North and South Islands of New Zealand in a bath!
Paul Leach (1938 - 2010) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1950. Paul developed a reputation as New Zealand’s best camera operator over the course of his long career, also working as a journalist and director. He worked for the highly respected National Film Board in Canada where he collaborated on Norman McLaren’s, Pas de Deux. He was nominated for a BAFTA, won a Canadian Donald C. Mulholland Award, and a Canadian Film Award. He had a prominent role in the emergence of New Zealand feature films during the 1970s, and has been described in the book “Shot in New Zealand” as the, "unifying cameraperson, the director of pictures for New Zealand”. He worked on The Quiet Earth, which won a GOFTA and was camera operator for Kiwi classics including Utu, Sleeping Dogs, Mauri, Came a Hot Friday, Constance, Smash Palace, and Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
Jeremy David Pope ONZM (1938–2012) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1952. Jeremy was a prominent human rights and anti-corruption activist and writer who was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 for services to international affairs. Jeremy founded Transparency International where he co-created the Corruption Perceptions Index and wrote Confronting Corruption, which has been translated into 20 different languages. He was a barrister in New Zealand and England, working as legal counsel and director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s legal division for 17 years. He was secretary to the Commonwealth Observer Group that oversaw Zimbabwe's independence elections in 1980 and a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group that visited South Africa in 1986, triggering the release of Nelson Mandela. Jeremy was editor of The New Zealand Law Journal and the Commonwealth Law Bulletin. He also served on the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
Dr Roderick Boyd Ellis-Pegler MNZM graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1954. Rod is one of New Zealand’s leading infectious disease specialists and is internationally respected for achievements in his field. In 2006 Rod was awarded Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to medicine. He has also been awarded life memberships of the Australian Society of Antimicrobials, and of the New Zealand Aids Foundation for substantial work towards their causes. Rod has worked in London, Jamaica and Colorado. Rod was the only infectious disease physician in 1984 when the first patients with AIDS arrived in New Zealand. He was one of the first specialists to begin caring for gay men infected with what at the time was an unknown disease, when all that was available was basic palliative care. In the 22 years he spent working with people with HIV/AIDS Rod was always at the cutting edge of treatment methods. He championed the needs of the increasing number of gay and bisexual men who were infected with HIV, and worked tirelessly to fight the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS by helping to educate health professionals, the police and the public. Rod’s has also worked in the care of patients with severe and complicated infections, infections in immunocompromised patients, and those with tropical diseases. Rod has worked on and chaired a wide variety of committees and working groups for the Ministry of Health. He is known as an enthusiastic teacher, and was awarded the Denis Pickup prize for clinical teachers in 2000.
Takapuna based couple, Guy and Susan Haddleton, have been described as ‘serial entrepreneurs’, selling their first start-up business in their mid-40s for US$160 million.
A St Peter's Old Boy, In 1990, the Haddletons established Adaytum, an enterprise planning software company, along with co-founder Michael Gould. Adaytum began in the UK, with an initial investment of 49 pounds (the cost of an advertisement in the Financial Times) before later conquering the US market and moving to Minneapolis. They led Adaytum for 13 years until its acquisition by Cognos in 2003 for US$160 million.
The Haddletons are keen investors and supporters of entrepreneurial, start-ups. They were early investors in Xero with Rod Drury, where Guy also served on the board for four years, and have recently invested in medical cannabis start-up, Helius Therapeutics, and supercomputing start-up Nyriad here in New Zealand.
Sir Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones KNZM FRS FRSNZ FAA ONZM (1952–2020) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1965. Sir Vaughan is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished mathematicians, having earned the Fields Medal in 1990 (the highest honour a mathematician can receive) and the Rutherford Medal in 1991 (the most prestigious award conferred by the Royal Society of New Zealand). Amongst other accolades Vaughan is also a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and the current Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley.
Anna Hawkins (1988-present) graduated from St Peter’s in 2005. Anna has been singing and performing since the age of seven, and whilst at St Peter’s, she took a number of leading roles in the school’s musical theatre productions including Fantine in Les Miserables, Florence in Chess and Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde. She enjoyed classical training and won the Under 16 Rotorua Lockwood Aria Competition in successive years.
Since leaving St Peter’s with a vocal ability to cross musical genres of pop, classical, opera and Celtic, Anna has performed in numerous concerts and arts festivals both nationally and internationally. In 2010 Anna performed with international tenor Will Martin and in 2014 joined international tenor Paul Potts on his tour of New Zealand.
In addition to performing live, Anna has released three full-length albums recorded in London and Poland, working with Pawel Zarecki Journey On (2013), Divine (2015) and Bold Brave and Beautiful (2017). Anna’s albums reached the top ten in the New Zealand music charts with Divine spending five weeks in the charts.
Her voice has been described by NZ Music Magazine as: "Irresistible - a beautiful voice that can move you to tears... Completely unpretentious yet totally rich."
John William Walters graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1989. John is a former Waikato rugby representative who played for the province 26 times between 1991 and 1996. He is currently the Waikato Rugby Union resource coach and ITM Cup assistant coach. John has previously worked at the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union as coach development manager and ITM Cup assistant coach, as well as coaching Waikato age group teams. He was head coach of the Hong Kong team for two years in 2007–08.
Keith Ross Lowen (1974–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1993. Keith is a former All Blacks rugby player. He played inside centre and represented Waikato and the Chiefs for most of his career. Keith famously scored a hat-trick for the Chiefs against the Blues in a Super 12 match in 2001. He has also played for the Cheetahs in South Africa for one year and then for the NEC Green Rockets in Japan for two years.
Melina Hamilton (1976–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1994. Melina holds the New Zealand record for high jump, both outdoors (4.40m in 2003) and indoors (4.20m in 2004). She represented New Zealand at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Her first international representation was in 1993 at the Oceania Youth Championships where she competed in three events, winning the gold medal in high jump, silver in javelin, and silver in the 800 metre race. She went on to compete in pole vault at three Commonwealth Games, two World Championships, and a World Indoor Championships.
Gareth Hopkins (1976–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1994. Gareth was one of the Black Cap’s most successful wicket keepers in a cricketing career that spanned 16 years. He broke Ian Smith’s 22-year-old record for dismissals with a total of 461 (26 stumpings and 435 catches). Gareth played in four tests, 25 one day internationals, and ten Twenty20 matches. He took nine years to complete his degree alongside his cricketing commitments! Before joining the Black Caps he played for the New Zealand youth team and domestically for Northern Districts, Canterbury, Otago and Auckland. At Otago he scored five 1st class centuries in the summer of 2006–07 and as captain at Auckland he led the team to successive HRV Cup titles in 2011 and 2012.
Stuart Farquhar (1982–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1999. Stuart is a New Zealand elite javelin thrower and twelve-time New Zealand national javelin champion. In 1998 when Stuart was a student at St Peter’s, he won the intermediate javelin at the Waikato Secondary Schools Championships. That year he went on to win both the Under-18 and Under-20 events at the National Club Championships and was chosen to represent New Zealand at the World Junior Games in France. To complete a fantastic breakthrough year Stuart won the New Zealand Secondary Schools senior javelin title in December 1998. Stuart has competed in the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008, 2012 (finishing 9th) and 2016. In 2006 he finished sixth at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cup and in 2010 he won the silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Mat, Nick & Anna Mowbray graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 1997, 2001, and 2002 respectively. Mat, Nick & Anna are the founders of Zuru, a toy company with a global presence based in Guangzhou, China. Nick started out selling Zuru’s very first product, a mini hot air-balloon, door to door when he was a student at St Peter’s in 2004. Soon after, as an 18 year old, he moved to China carrying big ambitions to build Zuru into the company it is today. In 2014 Zuru had a turnover in excess of $100 million. It has 500 people working on the Zuru brand, factories providing over 7000 jobs. Zuru is a major sponsor of the Business and Entrepreneurial Centre at St Peter’s.
Rushlee Buchanan (1988–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 2005. Rushlee was a founding members of the St Peter’s Cycling Academy in the early 2000s. She took up cycling after a school project on the Sydney Olympics introduced her to cycling and role model Sarah Ulmer. Rushlee has gone on to become a professional cyclist and competed at Rio Olympics in 2016. She currently rides in the USA for United Healthcare having previously ridden for Team TIBCO and Colavita. She won the silver medal in 2005 Junior World Track Championships, bronze at the 2010 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships in the Team Pursuit. She competed in the scratch, points and road races at both the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. She won the New Zealand road race championships in 2010 and 2014, with a 3rd place in 2011. She was 1st in the team pursuit and scratch races at the 2013 Oceania Track Championships. An interview with Rushlee is available here.
Mitchell Graham (1991–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 2008. Mitch made his Super Rugby debut in 2015, playing loosehead prop for the Chiefs against the Crusaders. Mitch is described by his teammates as being highly dependable. He is also a qualified chemical engineer. In 2014 he won the ITM Cup Premiership title with his provincial side, Taranaki. Mitch has also played for Canterbury As, Bs and Under 21s.
Tyler Boyd (1994–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 2010. Tyler made his debut for the All Whites in 2014. As a 17-year-old he signed a three-year contract with the Wellington Phoenix in 2012, and was named their Under-23 Player of the Year for the 2013–14 season. In 2013 Tyler played in the New Zealand Under-20 team at the Oceania Football Championships in Fiji. He went on to play in all of New Zealand’s group matches at the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Turkey. He now plays as a striker or left winger for Vitória SC, Portugal in the Primeira Liga.
Krystal Leger-Walker (1997–Present) graduated from St Peter’s, Cambridge in 2015. One to watch for the future, Krystal first played for the New Zealand Tall Ferns basketball team in 2014 when she was only 16! In 2015 she played for New Zealand in the Under-18 3x3 World Championships team and again for the Tall Ferns in 2016 after graduating from St Peter’s. An extremely talented point guard, Krystal illustrates the importance of age group competitions for player development — she played for Waikato teams from Under-13 to senior women’s level. Krystall was twice New Zealand Junior National Player of the Year, MVP of the National Under-19 Tournament in 2014 and 2015, and MVP of the NZ Secondary Schools Nationals in 2015. She has represented New Zealand in many age group levels, including captaining the NZ Under-19 Junior Tall Ferns in 2014, the Under-17 team in 2013, and the Under-16 team in 2012. Krystal also played in the New Zealand Under-17 girls team in 2013 and the Under-15 girls team in 2012. Krystal is now studying at the University of Northern Colorado and playing in their division one college basketball team.
On leaving St Peter’s in December 2008, Camille accepted an athletics scholarship to study at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. She competed for the track and cross-country teams, captaining the women’s cross-country team in her last semester. On returning to New Zealand, she completed a BA with a Psychology Major and English Minor at the University of Waikato. Whilst studying at Waikato, Camille was a recipient of the prestigious Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship and Prime Minister’s Scholarship.
Camille holds over ten national senior titles on the track, road and cross-country. She was placed 2nd at the World University Games in 2015 in Gwanju, Korea, in the 5000m and narrowly missed competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She has trained with Nic Bideau and the Melbourne Track Club since 2016, living as a full-time athlete. Camille qualified and competed for New Zealand at the 2017 World Championships in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events as well as for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She was placed 12th in the 2019 World Championships in Doha for the 5,000m and 10,000m events giving her automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Camille currently ranks number 2 all time in New Zealand for those events.
Jonathan is a Broadhurst old boy and remembers technological changes that took place, from the very first computers to the introduction of calculators.
After 28 years working in the international cyber security industry, he founded the cyber security firm, Cyber Citadel.
He lives in New Zealand with his wife and new born child.
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