Thomas Oliver Newnham

1989 Tom Newnham Kathleen Hall's village China

Thomas (Tom) Oliver Newnham ( 1926 - December 15, 2010 in Epsom (New Zealand) ) was a New Zealand teacher and political activist . He became known as a resistance fighter against apartheid and as the leader of a protest movement against the New Zealand tour of the South African Springboks in 1960. He was a leader in New Zealand's largest per capita anti-apartheid movement in the world.

Life

Newnham was married with two children. He died on December 15, 2010 at Elizabeth Knox Hospital in Epsom.

Services

1981 Protest against the Springboks in Hamilton (New Zealand), right Tom Newnham

2000 Tom Newnham at a memorial service for Kathleen Hall in Baoding China

As founder and national secretary of the Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE), Newnham fought against apartheid in South Africa and organized the protest movement against the rugby springbok tour of the South African team in New Zealand.

Newnham also played an important role in the Peace Squadron, a flotilla of around 2,000 boats - all yachts, motor boats and kayaks - that blocked Auckland Harbor against nuclear-powered and armed warships. New Zealand has been a nuclear-weapon-free zone since then. He campaigned for the rights of the Maori in New Zealand and worked in the New Zealand-Chinese Friendship Society (New Zealand China Friendship Society).

Tom Newnham spoke Chinese ( Mandarin , Cantonese ) and taught a.o. a. at Rewi Alley School in Shandan, China. In 2003 the second edition of his book was published: "Dr. Bethune's Angel: The Life of Kathleen Hall" about a New Zealand nurse who temporarily supported the Canadian doctor Norman Bethune in China .

In various obituaries, newspapers, radio and TV in New Zealand, South Africa and China paid tribute to Newnham's restless combative work across three continents and his fight against racism of all kinds.

Awards

• 1988: Queen's Service Order

Works

• By batons and barbed wire . Graphic Publications, 1983. ISBN 9780473001124
• Dr. Bethune's Angel: The Life of Kathleen Hall . Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 2004. ISBN 978-7119035383
• Dr. Bethune's Angel: The Life of Kathleen Hall . Graphic Publications, Auckland, 2002. ISBN 0-9597819-9-4
• He Ming Qing: Kathleen Hall . New World Press, 1992. ISBN 9780959781939
• Apartheid is not a game: the inside story of New Zealand's struggle against apartheid sport. Graphic Publications, 1975
• Interesting times: a Kiwi chronicle. Graphic Publications, 2003.
• Lake village in Cambodia. Longmans, 1965.
• Asia: the monsoon lands, Whitcombe and Tombs, 1973
• Rewi: The Story of Rewi Alley. Graphic Publications, 1997. ISBN 9780473046941
• 1840-1990: A Long White Cloud: 19 Maori and Non-Maori Authors .Graphic Publications, 2000. ISBN 9780959781953
• Peace Squadron: The Sharp Edge of Nuclear Protest in New Zealand . Graphic Publications, 1985. ISBN 9780959781908
• Shandan on the Old Silk Road . Graphic Publications, 2001. ISBN 9780959781977
• A walk around my fathers . Graphic Publications, 2000. ISBN 9780959781953

Web links

• http://nzchinasociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/kathleen-hall-tom-newnham.pdf
• http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10694925&ref=emailfriend
• http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-memory-of-tom-newnham-1926-2010.html
• http://terrybellwrites.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/farewell-to-an-anti-apartheid-battler/
• http://www.ucpnz.com/readnews.asp?newsid=2812 (Chinese)
• http://www.chinaconsulate.org.nz/eng/gdxw/t781067.htm
• http://www.thepaepae.com/rip-tom-newnham/12753/ (with photo)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://notices.nzherald.co.nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/obituary.aspx?n=thomas-oliver-newnham&pid=147156202&fhid=12598
2. ↑ http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/64371/human-rights-campaigner-tom-newnham-dies