New scholarship honours Kiwi farming leader

The memory of one of New Zealand’s farming leaders is being honoured with the establishment of the John H Aspinall Scholarship to support study into public access to the outdoors and New Zealand’s farming heritage.

The annual $5000 scholarship is a partnership between the Aspinall family and the New Zealand Walking Access Commission (NZWAC). It is named after the late John (Henry) Aspinall – a highly respected South Island farming leader who died in 2011, aged 60.

Mr Aspinall was a member of the NZWAC Board when he passed away and his death was widely felt by New Zealand farming and outdoor recreation communities. He and the Aspinall family are well known for their generosity in allowing up to 80,000 people each year to cross their family farm – Mount Aspiring Station.

Prior to his passing, Mr Aspinall had served on the national board of Federated Farmers and been a driving force behind setting up the Hieracium Control Trust. The Aspinalls were supreme winners of the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards and, in 1995, Mr Aspinall was honoured with an achievement award by the Otago branch of the Institute of Agricultural Science.

The scholarship will be managed by Universities New Zealand on behalf of the New Zealand Walking Access Commission. Scholarship applicants must be currently enrolled, either full time or part time, in an Honours, Masters or Doctoral programme at a New Zealand university.

Applications close on 23 February.  Further information is available on Universities New Zealand’s website at http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/scholarships.