John McCraw
{{Short description|New Zealand soil scientist and local historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = John McCraw
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|CRSNZ|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = John Davidson McCraw
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|03|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Dunedin, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|12|14|1925|03|13|df=y}}
| death_place = Hamilton, New Zealand
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| fields = Pedology
| workplaces = New Zealand Soil Bureau
University of Waikato
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| alma_mater = University of Otago
Victoria University of Wellington
| thesis_title = Papers on soils in New Zealand and Antarctica
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| thesis_year = 1968
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| awards = MBE (1992)
Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand (2005)
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John Davidson McCraw {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|CRSNZ|size=85%}} (13 March 1925 – 14 December 2014) was a New Zealand pedologist, academic, and local historian, particularly of the Central Otago area. The McCraw Glacier in Antarctica is named for him.
Biography
Born in Dunedin in 1925,{{cite web |url=http://www.centralstories.com/research.html |title=Central Stories research and collections |year=2013 |website= |publisher=Central Stories |accessdate=10 January 2015}} McCraw was interested in science from an early age, becoming a member the junior group of the Otago branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand when he was 10 years old.{{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Cam |date=August 2005 |title=John McCraw awarded Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand (CRSNZ) |url=http://nzsss.science.org.nz/documents/soil_news/August%202005%20Soil%20News.pdf |journal=New Zealand Soil News |publisher=New Zealand Society of Soil Science |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=101–102 |accessdate=10 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113142520/http://nzsss.science.org.nz/documents/soil_news/August%202005%20Soil%20News.pdf |archivedate=13 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }} He attended the University of Otago, from where he graduated with a Master of Science with second-class honours in geology in 1948.{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university16.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Mc |date= |website= |publisher= |accessdate=10 January 2015}}
McCraw then had a 20-year career as a pedologist with the Soil Bureau of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, based first in Alexandra in Central Otago from 1949 to 1963 and then in Hamilton.{{cite news | url=http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/alexandra/84799/innovator-039prolonged-life-otago-goldfields039 | title=Innovator 'prolonged life of Otago goldfields' | date=7 December 2009 | work=Otago Daily Times | accessdate=10 January 2015 | first=Lynda | last=van Kempen}}{{cite news | url=http://community.scoop.co.nz/2011/11/river-fertile-ground-for-former-waikato-academic/ | title=River fertile ground for former Waikato academic | date=23 November 2011 | work=Community Scoop | accessdate=10 January 2015}} He led the Soil Bureau's first Antarctic expedition in 1959–60, undertaking soil surveys in the Taylor Valley and on the Ross Sea coast.{{cite news | url=http://livenews.co.nz/2014/04/08/painting-to-commemorate-antarctic-soil-research/ | title=Painting to commemorate Antarctic soil research | date=8 April 2014 | work=LiveNews | accessdate=10 January 2015}}
In 1968 McCraw earned a Doctor of Science degree from Victoria University of Wellington on the basis of 13 papers on soils in New Zealand and Antarctica.{{cite web |url=http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=428867 |title=Papers on soils in New Zealand and Antarctica |publisher=Victoria University of Wellington |accessdate=10 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150115054102/http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=428867 |archivedate=15 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }}
McCraw was appointed as the foundation professor in the newly established Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato in 1970, and served as the university's dean of science between 1975 and 1984. On his retirement from Waikato in 1988, McCraw was granted the title of emeritus professor.{{cite web |url=http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/archive/2013/officershonoursstaff/emeritusprofessors.html |title=Emeritus professors |year=2013 |website= |publisher=University of Waikato |accessdate=10 January 2015}}
In retirement, McCraw found the time to devote to researching the history of Central Otago, in which he had become interested during his time at the Soil Bureau in Alexandra. He went on to publish about a dozen books on the history of the area and the wider Otago region, and was acknowledged as the leading authority on the Alexandra district.{{cite news | url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/6017451/Ebbs-and-flows-of-rivers-history-recorded | title=Ebbs and flows of river's history recorded | date=23 November 2011 | work=Waikato Times | accessdate=10 January 2015 | first=Annette | last=Taylor}} He also wrote The wandering river: landforms and geological history of the Hamilton basin, published in 2011.
Throughout his life, McCraw served on a range of community, professional and public committees, organisations and inquiries. In 1957 he was a member of the organizing committee for the inaugural Alexandra Blossom Festival.{{cite web |url=http://collections.soundarchives.co.nz/search.do?view=detail&page=1&id=146999&db=object |title=In touch with New Zealand |date=24 September 2004 |publisher=Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision |accessdate=10 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110032623/http://collections.soundarchives.co.nz/search.do?view=detail&page=1&id=146999&db=object |archivedate=10 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }} He served as president of the Waikato branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand between 1965 and 1966 and was a member of the society's geology and quaternary national committees from 1975 to 1982. In 1968 he chaired the Waikato branch of the Geological Society of New Zealand. He also served on the National Water and Soil Authority from 1976 to 1985, and the commission of inquiry into the Abbotsford landslip disaster between 1979 and 1980. He chaired the government's 1988 Rabbit and Land Management Task Force and the public consultation committee for the Hamilton City Council pollution control scheme from 1994 to 1996. He was patron of the Waikato Geological and Lapidary Society.
McCraw died in Hamilton in 2014 and was buried at Hamilton Park Cemetery.{{cite news | url=http://deaths.waikatotimes.co.nz/obituaries/waikato-times-nz/obituary.aspx?pid=173476265 | title=John Davidson McCraw obituary | date=16 December 2014 | work=Waikato Times | accessdate=10 January 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hamilton.govt.nz/our-services/do-it-online/cemetery-search/Pages/default.aspx?surname=mccraw&forename=john+davidson |title=Cemetery search |date= |website= |publisher=Hamilton City Council |accessdate=10 January 2015}}
Honours and awards
In the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, McCraw was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to earth sciences.{{London Gazette |issue=52953 |date=13 June 1992 |page=30 |supp=2}} He was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Soil Science in 1995, and in 2005 he was elected as a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his promotion and encouragement of science and technology. In 2008, he received a special award at the Central Otago Community Awards for his vital role in the preservation of knowledge and understanding of the history of Alexandra and the surrounding districts.{{cite web |url=http://www.aworldofdifference.co.nz/2008_award_winners |title=2008 award winners |publisher=Central Otago – a world of difference |accessdate=10 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110032153/http://www.aworldofdifference.co.nz/2008_award_winners |archivedate=10 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }}{{cite news | url=http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/central-otago/24068/historian-gets-special-award | title=Historian gets special award | date=26 September 2008 | work=Otago Daily Times | accessdate=10 January 2015 | first=Diane | last=Brown}}
Honorific eponym
In 1979, a glacier in the Britannia Range in Antarctica was named McCraw Glacier, in honour of McCraw, by a geological field party from the University of Waikato led by Michael Selby.{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 9662| name = McCraw Glacier | accessdate = 10 January 2015}} The John McCraw Research Room at the Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra is also named for him.
Selected works
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=The wandering river: landforms and geological history of the Hamilton basin |year=2011 |publisher=Geoscience Society of New Zealand |location=Lower Hutt |isbn=9781877480126}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=The gold baron: John Ewing, Central Otago's mining entrepreneur |year=2009 |publisher=Central Stories |location=Alexandra |isbn=9780473156701}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Early days on the Dunstan |year=2007 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780958270922}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=A fruitful land: the story of fruitgrowing and irrigation in the Alexandra–Clyde district |year=2005 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562015}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Gold on the Dunstan |year=2003 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562596}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=The golden junction: episodes in Alexandra's history |year=2002 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562381}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Harbour horror |year=2001 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562244}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Mountain water & river gold: stories of gold mining in the Alexandra district |year=2000 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562046}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Coastmaster: the story of Captain James B. Greig |year=1999 |publisher=Silverdale |location=Hamilton |isbn=9780473062002}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Dunedin holocaust: the tragic fire in the Octagon Buildings, Dunedin, 1879 |year=1998 |publisher=Square One |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908562572}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Mine fire: the 1906 coal-mine fire at Alexandra |year=1992 |publisher=Otago Heritage |location=Dunedin |isbn=9780908774517}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=The siren's call: experiences in a volunteer fire brigade |year=1991 |publisher=Silverdale |location=Hamilton |isbn=9780473011543}}
- {{cite book |last=McCraw |first=John |title=Soils of Ida Valley, Central Otago, N.Z. |year=1966 |publisher=Soil Bureau, DSIR }}
References
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Category:University of Otago alumni
Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Waikato
Category:New Zealand soil scientists
Category:20th-century New Zealand geologists
Category:20th-century New Zealand historians
Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Category:Burials at Hamilton Park Cemetery