Street names - Hector Street, Herne Bay

James Hector was born in Edinburgh 1834 and educated there, qualifying as a physician as well as training in geology, botany and zoology.

The work at the museum soon fell into a pattern. During summer Hector worked strenuously in the field with as many of his staff who could be spared. For the rest of the year, they were all involved in writing up reports, classifying specimens and arranging them for display in the museum. In 1867, The New Zealand Institute was established to encourage the spread of scientific knowledge and the museum and laboratory became its property. Hector managed the institute under a board of governors until 1903. The survival and expansion of the institute, which by 1933 became the Royal Society of New Zealand, is one of Hector’s major achievements.

Being the only scientist of standing in government, other small scientific bodies were placed under his control. At various times he was responsible for the Meteorological Department, the Colonial Observatory, the Wellington Time-Ball Observatory, Wellington’s Botanic Garden, custody of the standard weights and measures, and the Patent Office library. History emphasises Hector managed many organisations but doesn’t take into account he was continually coping with different priorities and achieving a huge work load with only a small staff. To top up all this, in 1871 he became a member of the University of New Zealand’s first senate and in 1885 was elected chancellor, a position he held for 18 years. He was three times president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. Many of these subsidiary services were of great interest to Hector. He introduced plants such as radiata pine and macrocarpa, which could be used for timber and shelter as well as a basis for industry. He viewed the Botanic Garden’s function as a centre of acclimatisation for useful plants. Consequently, he introduced other species of pines as well as mulberry for possible silk production. He was often asked for official advice on a host of scientific, technological, medical and commercial problems and wrote clear, concise, balanced reports which were remarkably cogent, considering the limited literature and resources available at the time. He also wrote 45 scientific papers on geology, botany and zoology which were published in the Institute’s ‘Transactions’.

Eventually, government departments under Hector’s control were removed and the subsidiary units dispersed. The reforms resulted because of the Liberal Government’s desire for economy and Hector was left as director of the Colonial Museum and manager of the New Zealand Institute with a greatly reduced staff and budget. The Institute’s constitution was reviewed but nothing was done to action urgently needed repairs to the museum. Hector was due to retire in 1903, embittered and in poor health. He took leave of absence and travelled to Canada where official appreciation of his work there was blighted by the death of his son Douglas, who had accompanied him. He returned to New Zealand to find the Institute’s new constitution allowed for a president. Hector was elected in 1906 but he died at Lower Hutt the following year.

During his career he received many honours and the New Zealand Institute paid homage to him in 1911 by establishing the Hector Medal as their major award for research excellence. Because of his special interest in the whales and dolphins in our waters, he also built up a collection of their skeletons in the Colonial Museum and now his name is associated with the endangered Hector dolphin he first described way back in 1873. This year is the 150th anniversary of his appointment as the first government scientist in New Zealand and the Geoscience Society of New Zealand has published a book by Simon Nathan that is packed with information about Hector’s life and times. It includes a coloured plate depicting a sculpture of two Hector dolphins on Hector township’s foreshore. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)