title: Dirty Politics

text:
Dirty Politics: How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment is a book by Nicky Hager published in August 2014.

The book is based on emails hacked from Cameron Slater's Gmail account and on Facebook chats. These communications occurred around the same time that a denial-of-service (DOS) attack took down Slater's website – the right-wing blog Whale Oil Beef Hooked – and feature hundreds of items of correspondence in which prominent New Zealanders are criticised and vilified. Hager's book describes a lengthy history of correspondence between Slater and Justice Minister Judith Collins that eventually contributed to her resignation as a Minister. In response to the allegations in the book, Prime Minister John Key said that he talked to Slater on a regular basis. Hager claimed that using bloggers rather than journalists allowed Key to maintain a friendly public persona, while using right-wing blogs as a vehicle to attack opponents. Other bloggers mentioned in the book include Matthew Hooten, Cathy Odgers ( who goes by the name of Cactus Kate) and David Farrar.
However, Hager reserves his strongest criticism for Cameron Slater, who he says received payment to write attack articles on public figures who opposed or criticised National Party policy – and Dirty Politics identifies those who paid him.

Background
Whale Oil Beef Hooked (generally referred to as WhaleOil) is the personal blog of Cameron Slater which he started in 2005. Slater, the son of former National Party president John Slater, claims WhaleOil is a "super-blog" attracting over one million unique visits every month. He admitted at that time to suffering from depression and has a reputation for vitriol and anger. He said in 2010 that he didn't care if people regarded him as 'stupid, a bully, or vicious' but would resent being called a hypocrite.

In January 2014, WhaleOil was hacked some time after he posted a blog post with the headline "Feral dies in Greymouth, did world a favour." Three other children in this family had already been killed in accidents and the post provoked a 'furious public reaction'. Some weeks later, Hager received an 8 gigabyte USB stick in the mail containing thousands of pages of emails hacked from Slater's website. Hager contacted the hacker, known as Rawshark, and persuaded him that putting the information in a book would provide "something more lasting and of bigger value" than releasing it on Twitter. Hager says Rawshark was motivated by his dislike of Slater, and that he secretly met the hacker in public parks to discuss how the information should be released. He then spent a significant amount of time analysing the content and only published material which he believed was in the public interest. He was careful to avoid releasing sensitive material about Slater and others mentioned in the hacked emails which did not involve a significant public interest.

Production
The production, printing, and distribution of the book was done in secret by Craig Potton Publishing. Co-owner of the publishing company, Robbie Burton, said: "It was one of the great and surreal and scary moments of my publishing career." Burton said the secrecy was necessary because they were wary that the book might annoy some people with "deep pockets" who "might be inclined to revenge". The book was produced very quickly by Craig Potton Publishing, where staff worked on it from Thursday evening to the following Tuesday. Once the book was finished, first it was printed in secret in Wellington, before being shipped back to Nelson and stored in a warehouse, and then finally being sent unannounced to stores around the country.

Release

Dirty Politics was released at Unity Books in Wellington on 13 August 2014, with a crowd of approximately 150. Prior to the release of the book, details of what it would be about were the subject of substantial speculation, as the topic of the book was kept secret in order to avoid it being blocked from release by a court injunction.

Four days after release, it had sold about 10,000 copies, in addition to 1,000 e-book sales. Robbie Burton, executive director of Craig Potton Publishing, said: "I've never seen anything like this before, in terms of the speed at which it's happening." A week after release, sales had reached approximately 15,000, and by mid September, sales were at almost 20,000. The first two chapters are available free on-line.

Two weeks after the release of the book, Hager spoke at the four-day biennial Writers & Readers Festival in Christchurch. About 5000 people attended 57 events, one of which was a public discussion called Secrets, Spies and Free Speech featuring Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager, Guardian journalist Luke Harding and Australian journalist Richard King. The discussion was mainly about the freedom of speech in Western democracies.

Main features
Hager provides numerous incidents of dirty politics in the book. He describes multiple email exchanges between Cameron Slater and National Party spin doctor Jason Ede who works for Prime Minister John Key. Up till August 2011 Mr Ede was employed by Ministerial Services and, in effect, was paid by the taxpayer. Hager says Ede tried to avoid scrutiny by using a 'dynamic' IP address, one that changed frequently making it difficult for him to be identified. When the book was published, Mr Ede was employed by the National Party, rather than by John Key, but was still working from the Prime Minister's office. He resigned the day before the election.

Dirty Politics also describes numerous email contacts between Cameron Slater and Judith Collins who are long-time friends. The email records span from 2009 to 2014 covering the entire time she was in Cabinet. One particular email shows that Collins asked Slater to edit her Wikipedia page and sent him a new photo with the message: "Cam, any chance of a better photo going up?? Eek it looks really bad." Slater appears to have obliged using the pseudonym 'Jc press sec', which was subsequently changed to Polkad0t.

In return, Slater also asked Collins for favours. The emails indicate Slater asked Ms Collins to get a prisoner moved to a different prison, while she was Minister of Corrections. Slater asked Collins to get him moved because he was friends with the prisoner's ex-wife, who wanted the man moved further away from their daughter who had been visiting him in prison.

The more serious allegations in Dirty Politics are described below. Radio New Zealand political editor Brent Edwards says that while the book is not always definitive,

The Labour Party website
One of the main allegations is that during the 2011 election campaign, Cameron Slater and Jason Ede took advantage of a badly-configured website to enter the database of the Labour Party website. This enabled them to look at emails and personal details which were then used to attack the Labour Party. 18,000 emails, lists of the party's donors and supporters and their credit-card transactions were downloaded. The book reveals Mr Slater and Mr Ede both accessed the site more than once and then "plotted how best to reveal the downloaded material on Mr Slater's blog". Slater did not deny he had accessed the website in May 2011, and said: "I was certainly into the backend of the Labour Party's website, if they couldn't manage security of their website, their credit card details and financial information about their membership, well then they weren't really fit for government at the time."

Hager alleges that material from the website breach was selectively released by Slater, starting from 12 June.

In response to being accused of illegally accessing the Labour website, Slater published a blog post titled "My confession: How I accessed the Labour Party web site". In the post, he shows how he claims to have accessed information on four Labour party websites, and denies allegations of "hacking". Using easily accessible links, he could view all the files on the web server, including sensitive membership and credit card information which was unencrypted.

Mr Key also claimed there was nothing wrong with Jason Ede accessing the Labour Party website because "they left their website open." He justified the action to Radio New Zealand by saying: "If the Wallabies on Tuesday night had left their starting line-up up on their website, on their private website, would the All Blacks go and have a look? The answer is yes. The reason I know that is it's happened."

The Security Intelligence Service
Another allegation is that in 2011, the Prime Minister's office facilitated the release of confidential Security Intelligence Service (SIS) documents to Cameron Slater so he could use them to embarrass Phil Goff. Slater made an Official Information Act (OIA) request to the SIS for confidential documents which confirmed the SIS had briefed Phil Goff about suspected Israeli spies who left the country after the second Christchurch earthquake – after Goff had said publicly he was not briefed. Slater was given access to documents within 24 hours – long before other media outlets who had also asked for them. Slater's emails described in Dirty Politics suggest he knew what was in the documents before they were released and that the OIA would be expedited in unusually quick time. Goff believes this inside information could only have come from the SIS director Warren Tucker or from staff in the prime minister's office.

Attacks on public servant
The book also presents evidence which suggests that Justice Minister Judith Collins leaked the name of public servant, Simon Pleasants, to Cameron Slater. Pleasants worked in the ministerial property department at Internal Affairs, and Collins assumed he was responsible for leaking details of Mr English's accommodation payments to Labour in 2009. Slater then published a series of blog attacks on Pleasants – who subsequently received a torrent of abuse including death threats. Pleasants denies ever leaking any information about English.

Nick Bryant, Gerry Brownlee's press secretary is identified in Dirty Politics as the user of the pseudonym "Former Hack" to post anonymous comments on Whaleoil encouraging Cameron Slater's campaign against Pleasants. On 23 August, The New Zealand Herald reported it was able to confirm the use of Mr Bryant's ministerial computer and subsequently revealed that hundreds of messages were sent from ministerial or government computers to the comments section of Slater's blog. The messages are linked to email addresses on government servers and IP addresses from which they were posted.

Commercial 'hit' jobs
Dirty Politics also refers to hacked emails which suggest Slater allowed his website to be used for commercial "hit" jobs supplied by PR consultant, Carrick Graham, whose clients include tobacco and alcohol companies. For instance, Slater has frequently used his WhaleOil blog to attack Professor Doug Sellman, a leading authority on addiction and an outspoken critic of the alcohol industry posting blogs with pejorative titles such as “Confirmed: Doug Sellman Gone Mad”. These were based on information supplied by Carrick Graham, son of former National party member Sir Douglas Graham. Hager says Carrick Graham's company, Facilitate Communications, paid Slater $6,555 a month and speculated that it was for him to do attack blogs.

Katherine Rich
Former National MP Katherine Rich, the chief executive of the NZ Food and Grocery Council, is implicated in the book. Emails show that information she passed to Carrick Graham was passed on to Slater. Slater then used the information to attack health campaigners such as Professor Doug Sellman who campaigns about liquor legislation and New Zealand Herald columnist Wendyl Nissen,  who writes about additives and healthy food.

New Zealand allows 14 additives that have been banned or never allowed in the European Union or the United States and in her role at the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council, Katherine Rich, has claimed all additives used in New Zealand are safe. Ms Nissen said she was attacked because Katherine Rich objected to her "highlighting the use of artificial colours commonly used in soft drinks and processed foods and the fact many had been banned in other countries." Confirming his connection with Katherine Rich, Slater publicly acknowledged that she had paid him twice, but claimed it was for speaking at conferences not for writing blog articles.

However, in 2012, the National Government appointed Rich to the board of the Health Promotional Agency, which runs campaigns to promote healthier lifestyles. In this capacity, Katherine Rich's primary role is to promote public health, suggesting her involvement with the Food and Grocery Council means she has a conflict of interest. Once the allegations in Dirty Politics became public, a group of 33 scientists and health practitioners were so concerned they wrote to John Key asking him to investigate Rich's apparent conflict of interest.

Green Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague said Rich should resign, arguing that "Katherine Rich, Carrick Graham and Cameron Slater have all been involved in a systematic undermining of health promotion in New Zealand. She cannot tenably remain on the board of that organisation." Rich responded by saying she had never been involved in undermining public health and found the claim very offensive. She said she put her heart and soul into the Health Promotion Agency and adhered to all parts of the Crown Entities Act.

Nevertheless, the Auditor-General was asked to investigate and conducted a review of the HPA’s board minutes. It declared "we have not identified any particular matters before, or decisions by, the HPA board that might raise serious concerns about its management of conflicts of interest". However, the Auditor-General acknowledged they did not interview Ms Rich, nor did they investigate "allegations in Nicky Hager’s 2014 book Dirty Politics about things Mrs Rich is said to have done in her private capacity". Rich said she felt vindicated by the finding, but the Green Party called for an additional investigation by the State Services Commission.

Further revelations

Attacks on the Serious Fraud Office
On 30 August, John Key released an email written by Slater in 2011 suggesting Judith Collins was also 'gunning' for former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) boss Adam Feely. Collins was the Minister responsible for the SFO at the time, and the email said: "Any information that we can provide her [Collins] on his [Feely's] background is appreciated." It was addressed to 'Mark' (with the surname redacted) and Carrick Graham.

Other emails, released to Fairfax Media by Rawshark, appear to suggest that 'Mark' is former Hanover Finance director Mark Hotchin. Hotchin secretly paid Slater and another right wing blogger, Cathy Odgers, to write attack posts undermining Feely, the SFO and the Financial Markets Authority while they were investigating the collapse of Hanover Finance in 2011. Slater wrote a series of highly critical blogs about Feely in late 2011.

Release of emails on @WhaleDump
Prime Minister John Key characterised Dirty Politics as a "cynically timed attack" from "a well known left wing conspiracy theorist". In response to Key's criticism that the book's publication so close to the 2014 general election was designed to be a political bombshell, Hager says he published the material that was provided to him in March 2014 as soon as he could. Rather than being timed for maximum political damage, Hager says "it was actually just the practicalities of how fast I could get it out."

Mr Key went on to say the book "makes all sorts of unfounded allegations and voters will see it for what it is." He also accused Nicky Hager of joining "a whole lot of dots that can't be connected." Key said: "[Hager] didn't do what a true journalist would do. He didn't go and check out the facts, he didn't try and get that side of the story."

In response, Hager spoke to his source to try to get back some of the emails that the book was based on in order to release them online. The hacker, known as Rawshark, apparently said: "Leave this to me" and began releasing the emails through an account on Twitter, @WhaleDump. The emails seem to back up many of the claims Hager makes in the book. The hacker also communicated with journalists using encryption to protect his identity. He denied any political motivation but indicated a desire to "take down this corrupt network".

After a series of email releases on the @WhaleDump account, Cameron Slater tried to take out a court injunction to prevent the media from reporting hacked information obtained from his Whale Oil blog. Media lawyer Julian Miles QC argued on behalf of the media outlets that the information was of huge public interest. High Court Judge John Fogarty agreed but granted an order stopping the hacker, who was an unnamed defendant, from publishing any more "WhaleDumps", although media were allowed to publish material they had already received. In his judgement Justice Fogarty said that Slater's case against the hacker was overwhelming and that taking information from his computer was akin to entering someone's private property and taking their private papers. He wrote: "There is no doubt at all that (Slater) has a serious argument that the unknown hacker has committed a wrong or tort against him, to which the common law will grant such remedies as can be practicably imposed."

On 4 September, the original @WhaleDump account was suspended by Twitter. Soon afterwards, the hacker Rawshark reopened a Twitter account with the username @Whaledump2. On 5 September, after the release of a number of other documents online, Rawshark announced that he would no longer be releasing any information, tweeting a number of messages:

Impact

The New Zealand Herald commentator John Armstrong wrote: "Hager's allegations are many and varied. They are extremely serious." Armstrong points to the allegation of the involvement of National Party personnel in hacking into the Labour Party database as the most serious, and draws parallels with the Watergate scandal. David Cunliffe, leader of the Labour Party, also describes the events portrayed in the book as akin to Watergate.

The revelations in Dirty Politics have also been reported in international media. Under the headline "New Zealand's own House of Cards is collapsing", The Guardian newspaper said "New Zealanders are currently witnesses to an exposé of unprecedented proportions." Also in The Guardian, New Zealand journalist Toby Manhire wrote: "Dirty Politics has blown the National party (election) strategy dramatically off course, propelling the campaign into uncharted territory. Its allegations have dominated news bulletins for the 10 days since its publication, as accusations of dirty tricks, smear campaigns and conspiracy sally in every direction." In addition to the calls for Judith Collins to resign, Manhire suggested that John Key's "sparkling reputation" may be "contaminated by association with Slater’s toxic style."

Cameron Slater subsequently laid a complaint with the police about the illegal hacking of his emails, and made a separate complaint with the Privacy Commissioner over the release of the email by the Prime Minister.

Resignations

Judith Collins
Collins had been under pressure to resign earlier in the year over her involvement with Chinese officials at Oravida. Once Dirty Politics was published and Collins' alleged treatment of public servant Simon Pleasants came to light, there were renewed calls for her resignation. The Public Service Association said her actions breached an important constitutional principle and "Minister Collins must take responsibility for her actions and resign." Labour Leader David Cunliffe said Mr Key should fire Ms Collins, "because she has acted in a way that is unbecoming and unfit" for a minister. Deputy Prime Minister Bill English distanced himself from her behaviour by saying "it's not a style I like". John Key called her "unwise" but refused to take any action.

As the pressure on Collins mounted, she avoided the media entirely for a few days. Then on 23 August she fronted up but refused to answer questions about her friendship with Mr Slater. She declared she had no plans to resign and refused to acknowledge her behaviour was damaging the National Party in any way. A week later right wing blogger, Cathy Odgers, apparently sent the damning email to John Key's office in which Slater said Collins was 'gunning' for Adam Feely. Fairfax Media journalist Matt Nippert, who was investigating the hacked emails, believes that Odgers thought Nippert was about to exposé the connection between Slater, Collins and Feely. He says Odgers panicked and "alerted the Beehive to what may have been coming." John Key called a press conference the next day, Saturday 30 August 2014, at which Collins resigned as a minister.

In October, the Prime Minister announced that Collins would not be allowed to use the title 'Honourable' before her name unless she is cleared by the inquiry into her behaviour.  Collins was reported to be 'appalled' and 'seething' that she heard about this decision through the media rather than being told personally by Mr Key.

Jason Ede
Jason Ede was a central figure in Dirty Politics. Hager said Ede drafted Official Information Act requests on Slater's behalf and was frequently in contact with the blogger about ways to discredit the Labour Party. After the book's release, Ede entirely avoided the media. Slater subsequently described him as "squeamish" and "gutless" for going to ground rather than talking to the media about their relationship.

Ede resigned from his position as a media researcher for the National Party the day before the election. Announcing his resignation after 11 years "loyal service to the National Party", John Key said:

Blogger David Farrar said he thought Ede had resigned voluntarily and not due to the book's publication. However, Hager said he was sceptical about the reasons behind Ede's departure:

Inspector General inquiry into the release of SIS information
On 1 September, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn, announced she would conduct an "in-depth and robust inquiry" in response to claims that details of a briefing between the head of the SIS with former Labour leader Phil Goff were given to Cameron Slater. Gwyn promised a comprehensive investigation saying: "The scale of the inquiry is significant – it involves access to a variety of IT systems, documents, phone records and so forth. I then need to analyse that information, discard what is irrelevant, and then take into account the evidence from those summoned." She said the inquiry was in "recognition of public interest" that the SIS may have been used for political purposes.

The results on the inquiry were released on 25 November 2014 three months later. Ms Gwyn found that the SIS gave information to John Key's office from where his deputy chief of staff Phil de Joux passed it on to another John Key employee, Jason Ede. Mr Ede contacted Cameron Slater and they then discussed how an Official Information Act request for the information should be worded. Slater emailed the request while they were still talking on the phone and also provided Slater with draft blog posts attacking Mr Goff. Cameron Slater subsequently used the information to attack former Labour leader, Phil Goff, on his blog.

Ms Gwyn concluded that former SIS director Warren Tucker provided "incomplete, inaccurate and misleading information" to Cameron Slater and to Prime Minister John Key and failed to take adequate steps to maintain the agency's political neutrality. In the process, Ms Gwyn said "the SIS had effectively delivered Mr Slater an exclusive story while denying other media the same information."

The report went on to say that Warren Tucker "having released inaccurate information that was predictably misinterpreted, the then director of the service had a responsibility to take positive steps to correct the interpretation", but failed to do so. Gwyn further said that "These errors resulted in misplaced criticism of the then-Leader of the Opposition, Hon Phil Goff MP". Ms Gwyn recommended that current SIS director, Rebecca Kittredge should apologize to Mr Goff on behalf of the SIS. After reading the report, Ms Kitteridge went a step further and apologised to the new Labour leader, Andrew Little, and Prime Minister John Key as well.

In a blog post responding to the release of the inquiry's findings, Hager wrote that:

He finishes his blog post by noting that many of the other components of Dirty Politics have yet to be investigated fully:

Inquiry into Collins & SFO
There were also calls for a wide ranging inquiry into the National party's dealings with Cameron Slater. Labour's finance spokesman, David Parker, described the revelations in Dirty Politics as "just the tip of the iceberg" and laid a formal complaint with Police into allegations that Judith Collins perverted the course of justice. David Cunliffe said there should be a commission of inquiry into all National Ministers' dealings with Slater. Greens Party co-leader Metiria Turei said there should be a Royal Commission. Winston Peters said a full Royal Commission of Inquiry would be a bottom line in any negotiations by New Zealand First in the formation of a government after the election.

The Prime Minister agreed to an inquiry but limited its scope to only one issue – the allegations that Collins undermined the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Adam Feeley in 2011. He appointed former High Court judge Lester Chisholm to conduct the inquiry. David Cunliffe felt this was an inadequate response and said Labour should be consulted on the terms of reference for the inquiry: "There is a well embedded constitutional convention that requires the Prime Minister to consult with the leader of the opposition this close to an election on a matter this serious. I would expect to be consulted on the terms of reference." Key refused to consult Labour over the terms saying "We're not going on a witch hunt."

On 25 November 2014, the inquiry released its findings that although there were two independent efforts to undermine former Serious Fraud Office chief Executive Adam Feeley, there was no evidence that Collins participated. However, Judge Chisholm had quite limited access to Slater's accomplices or to relevant information. He only interviewed two of the five people who were party to the email that led to Ms Collins' resignation – Cameron Slater and Carrick Graham. He didn't talk to Hanover boss Mark Hotchin or Hong Kong-based blogger Cathy Odgers. Chisholm also had no access to Ms Collins' Facebook communications which she deleted in 2013. He also did not have access to her parliamentary landline calls or to cell phone calls from Slater to her. Justice Chisholm noted that "The absence of telephone records for Mr Slater's calls is surprising given that both Ms Collins and Mr Slater confirmed that they phoned each other often."

Nevertheless, Collins felt vindicated and said:

In regards to Collins' relationship with Cameron Slater, she said he remained a "family friend", although she felt "incredibly let down" by him.

On opinion polls prior to the 2014 election
Although it was difficult to gauge the New Zealand public's views on the contents of Dirty Politics, Television New Zealand's Vote Compass tool provided a rough indication. Based on over 13,000 responses up to 25 August 2014, Vote Compass suggests that 33% thought there was "none" or "little" truth to the claims in the book, 49% said there "some" or "a lot" of truth, and 18% didn't know. In terms of the effect of the book on voting intentions, 56% said it wouldn't have an effect, 15% said it would have a "little" effect, 11% "some", 10% "a lot", and 8% said they didn't know. There is also some evidence to suggest that the number of people who believed the book's claims had grown over time.

A number of polls were held during the intense publicity surrounding Dirty Politics and showed the National Party losing support. Towards the end of August 2014, two weeks after the release of the book, National was still way ahead at 50.8%, but down 4.3% on previous figures. John Key also lost ground as preferred prime minister. The Radio New Zealand Poll of Polls (an arithmetical average of the four most recent major polls) showed National had slid below 50% to 49.1% as at 29 August.

The Prime Minister frequently tried to deflect media interest from Dirty Politics arguing that most people were more interested in other election issues. Once Judith Collins resigned, three polls including the Herald DigiPoll survey, all showed National support had gone back up to 50% while Labour continued to drop. At his first campaign appearance in the Epsom electorate on 6 September, Key said the polls were showing the public had moved on. New Zealand Herald columnist John Armstrong noted that Collins was pushed into resigning and said: "When Key sacked Judith Collins, the headlines screamed 'National in chaos'. In fact, removing Collins was the vital first move in getting National's campaign back on track. Hager's book looks like having no material impact on the outcome of the election."

On the 2014 election

John Key's National Party was re-elected to government after it received 47.04% of the party vote in the September 2014 general election. Judith Collins retained her seat in Papakura, but her winning margin over the Labour candidate was cut by half – from 9890 in the 2011 election to 5,119 in 2014. After the election, Collins was not reinstated to a ministerial position, and was relegated to the backbenches.

Political journalist Andrea Vance commented that "Dirty Politics didn't hurt National – in fact, all the evidence points to a lift. But it did harm Labour." Labour leader David Cunliffe commented that the focus on Dirty Politics and spying on New Zealanders had actually hurt the left: "You would think the impact would be on the Government party responsible, but the reality is that if one is not able to get the airtime because others are dominating it, that impacts the opposition as well". Cameron Slater blogged that Dirty Politics had no impact on the election "because New Zealanders simply don't care".

On John Key's integrity
Throughout the weeks that the allegations of Dirty Politics swirled in the media, Prime Minister John Key tried to swat them away claiming Nicky Hager was little more than "a screaming left-wing conspiracy theorist". After National won the 2014 election, Key continued with this dismissive approach once MPs returned to Parliament. When asked by Green party leader, Russel Norman, how many times he had spoken to or texted Cameron Slater, Key replied "Never in my capacity as Prime Minister". An editorial in the New Zealand Herald said this "revealed a cavalier disregard for the accountability and integrity of his office." After Key denied Judith Collins the right to be called the 'Honourable', despite other Cabinet members resigning in disgrace and keeping the title, even Cameron Slater thought this reflected badly on Mr Key. Describing Mr Key's decision as a 'silly mistake' he said: "Starting off the term with an arrogant and petulant act like that is unbecoming and foreshadows ill-will dogging him in this term."

Key's integrity took another hit after release of the report by Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn into the release of information by SIS director, Warren Tucker. Despite the revelations in Gwyn's report, Key claimed no one in his office had done anything wrong and refused to apologise to Mr Goff. New Zealand Herald columnist John Armstrong described the report as "hugely embarrassing" and said: "The Key administration has plumbed new depths of arrogance and contempt for the notion of politicians being accountable for their actions". Fairfax political journalist Andrea Vance wrote in response to the inquiries' findings that Key takes "hands-off to a disturbing extreme". She further wrote: "It stretches credibility to suggest Key – and his chief of staff Wayne Eagleson – bear no responsibility for the conduct of de Joux and Ede."

A few days later, Mr Key had to admit in Parliament that he had been communicating with Cameron Slater by text about Gwyn's report prior to its release. Given that Slater is perceived, in John Armstrong's words, as "the second most-despised figure in New Zealand politics" (after Kim Dotcom), parliamentarians and media commentators were surprised that Key was still in touch with him. Armstrong said by acknowledging his links with Slater, Key "compromised his assurance that he had no knowledge of the dirty tricks operation". Bryce Edwards said that Key could not afford to cut ties with Slater "out of fear of what could happen if Slater became his enemy". Matthew Hooten said this could lead to John Key's 'downfall' as he "risks Cameron Slater going off the deep-end and revealing the full extent of his relationship with the Prime Minister himself, the Prime Minister's Office, with a number of John Key's ministers, with a fair bunch of the backbenchers, and with some senior party officials".

On democracy & perceptions of corruption
In his column in the New Zealand Herald, Dr Bryce Edwards, lecturer in political studies at Otago University, expressed concern about the impact of Dirty Politics on the public's confidence in public institutions and the integrity of governance. He said the official reports in response to the inquiries generated by the book should serve as a "wake-up call" about the health of New Zealand democratic process.  In the National Business Review, Rob Hosking, supports this view writing: "The plain fact is, the country's security service got caught up in the political games of election 2011. Willfully or accidentally, it became a political arm of the party in power and not, as it should be, a neutral government agency."

In his column, Vernon Small warns that spindoctors are acquiring too much political sway and see their main job as being to protect the Government from the Opposition.

On science and public health
Obesity expert, Dr Boyd Swinburn, Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland, says dirty politics and conflicts of interest in government appointments are having a detrimental impact on Public health. Swinburn said when Tony Ryall appointed former National MP Katherine Rich to the Health Promotion Agency (HPA) in 2012, he ignored an 'irreconcilable conflict of interest' – Rich is chief executive of the Food and Grocery Council, which lobbies for the alcohol, tobacco and grocery-food industries, whereas the primary responsibility of the HPA is to improve the health of New Zealanders.

Dr Swinburn also believes the views of scientists are being suppressed by attack campaigns driven by large commercial interests in New Zealand. He points to Tony Ryall's dismissal of a letter from more than 30 senior public-health experts calling for an investigation of Rich's role on the HPA board.

Police investigation into the identity of the hacker

Raid on Hager's home
In October 2014, five police officers went to Nicky Hager's home with a search warrant and spent ten hours looking for information. The alleged purpose of the search was to try to find out the identity of the hacker Rawshark, who hacked into Cameron Slater's computer to obtain the emails and other material on which Dirty Politics was based. They took away computers, hard-drives, phones, CDs, an iPod and a camera. Police told Hager he is a witness, rather than a suspect of the inquiry. Hager said: "It seems like a very strange level of resources just for a witness." Stuff noted that similar raids had not been made on National Party staffer, Jason Ede, who allegedly hacked into the Labour Party website.

Successful legal challenge of raid
In response to the police search, a legal defence fundraiser for Hager was set up on the website Give A Little by former Young Labour leader Meg Bates, who described Hager as a "hero" who "exposed a twisted web of power and influence in New Zealand politics". As at April 2016, over $65,000 had been donated to the fund, despite attempts to shut it down and criticism from Slater's sympathisers.

Another legal defence fundraiser was set up by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. In an article publicising the fundraiser at The Intercept and detailing the police raid on Hager's house, Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher wrote that the raid could have been partially motivated by a desire to investigate whether Hager had received any information from the NSA leaks. As at 18 November, the Foundation fundraiser had raised over $21,000.

A legal team led by Julian Miles QC, media lawyer Steven Price, and barrister Felix Geiringer gathered round Nicky Hager, who is seeking a judicial review of the police action. Steven Price said "Our case will be that the police didn't properly consider Nicky Hager's right to protect his confidential sources". Commenting on the case, law professor Ursula Cheer said: "We've never really had a case like this before and we've never really had any of these (public interest) issues tested."

On 30 October 2014, it was reported that an updated edition of John Roughan's biography John Key: Portrait of a Prime Minister had a new chapter on the election which mentioned that John Key claimed to have been told the identity of the hacker Rawshark. He did not pass the name on to the author of the biography. Asked by reporters about the comment and whether he given the information to the police, a spokesperson for Key said that while he thought he knew the identity of the hacker, "he cannot be certain". The spokesperson also said that Key had no involvement in the police inquiry.

In December 2015, the High Court in Wellington declared the warrant used to search Hager's house "fundamentally unlawful". The judge criticised the police saying the way detectives went about obtaining the warrant was "not the type of facilitation that I consider the Search and Surveillance Act anticipates".

In March 2016, Hager travelled to the High Court in Auckland to collect belongings taken by police during the search in October 2014. His belongings were in a sealed container at the High Court awaiting the outcome of the legal challenge. Police also destroyed a hard drive which contained copies of Hager's data. Hager commented that:

On 12 June 2018, Hager accepted an apology and compensation for "substantial damages" from the New Zealand Police for the 2014 raid on his home during the investigation into the hacking that led to the Dirty Politics book. The settlement also included the police acknowledging that they had accessed Hager's personal banking data.

On the media

After the police raid on Nicky Hager's house, the Labour Party's acting leader, David Parker, pointed out that journalists have a right to protect their sources, and said there was a growing number of cases in which the police were being called in to investigate the media. He said the police had searched media offices after Mr Key's "teapot tapes" conversation with John Banks and the Serious Fraud Office had demanded the National Business Review hand over documents related to the collapse of South Canterbury Finance. Parker argued that the search of Nicky Hager's house amounted to intimidation and said: "If the media are not free of undue intrusion by state agencies, or have too cosy a relationship with political parties; they cannot do what the fourth estate is meant to do." In an editorial, the New Zealand Herald agreed and said the police raid over such a minor crime was "not a good look for the police". The editorial went on to say: "The effect of such raids is to intimidate such people from approaching media to disclose uncomfortable truths."

In reviews of political events in 2014,  numerous commentators emphasised the impact of Dirty Politics. The New Zealand Herald's David Fisher named Nicky Hager as a finalist for New Zealander of the Year. Russell Brown said #dirtypolitics was "Word of the Year 2014". Martin Bradbury criticised John Key for his involvement with Cameron Slater but also took aim at the media for their part in dirty politics arguing that "many of these media outlets also worked hand in glove with National's black ops team." Andrew Geddis challenged the Sunday Star Times for giving Judith Collins a bi-weekly column (once she resigned from cabinet), arguing the paper was essentially choosing money over 'ethical concerns'. Reviewing these various commentaries, Bryce Edwards said: "There is a growing call for the so-called 'Dirty Politics cast' of politicians and activists to be shunned by the media."

Footnotes

References

External links
Official website – DirtyPoliticsNZ.com
Nicky Hager's website containing articles, books, speeches and interviews

2014 non-fiction books
New Zealand books
Books about politics of New Zealand
2014 New Zealand general election
Investigative journalism
Potton & Burton books


title: FKA Twigs discography

text:
English singer and songwriter FKA Twigs has released two studio albums, one mixtape, three extended plays, twelve singles (including two as a featured artist), one promotional single and eighteen music videos.

Albums

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Guest appearances

Other charted songs

Music videos

As artist

As director

Notes

References

External links

Discographies of British artists
Electronic music discographies
Rhythm and blues discographies


title: Jurua

text:
Jurua monachina is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae, and the only species in the genus Jurua. It was described by White in 1855.

References

Anisocerini
Beetles described in 1855
Monotypic beetle genera


title: Onychocerus

text:
Onychocerus is a Neotropical genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae, containing the following species:

 Onychocerus aculeicornis (Kirby, 1818)
 Onychocerus albitarsis Pascoe, 1859
 Onychocerus ampliatus Bates, 1875
 Onychocerus concentricus Bates, 1862
 Onychocerus giesberti Júlio & Monné, 2001
 Onychocerus hovorei Júlio & Monné, 2001
 Onychocerus scorpio (Fabricius, 1781)
 Onychocerus versutus (Lane, 1966)

References

Anisocerini


title: 2014 BWF World Championships – Men's doubles

text:
The men's doubles tournament of the 2014 Copenhagen World Championships (World Badminton Championships) took place from August 25 to 31. Hendra Setiawan and Muhammad Ahsan enter the competition as the current champions.

Seeds

  Muhammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan (withdrew)
  Lee Yong-dae / Yoo Yeon-seong (final)
  Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen (semifinals)
  Hiroyuki Endo / Kenichi Hayakawa (third round)
  Kim Ki-jung / Kim Sa-rang (semifinals)
  Lee Sheng-mu / Tsai Chia-hsin (quarterfinals)
  Hoon Thien How / Tan Wee Kiong (quarterfinals)
  Liu Xiaolong / Qiu Zihan (quarterfinals)

  Markus Fernaldi Gideon / Markis Kido (third round)
  Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong (third round)
  Angga Pratama / Rian Agung Saputro (quarterfinals)
  Ko Sung-hyun / Shin Baek-cheol (champion)
  Chai Biao / Hong Wei (third round)
  Chris Adcock / Andrew Ellis (second round)
  Hirokatsu Hashimoto / Noriyasu Hirata (second round)
  Maneepong Jongjit / Nipitphon Puangpuapech (second round)

Draw

Finals

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

References
BWF Website

2014 BWF World Championships


title: Meredith Mitchell

text:
Dr Meredith Leigh Mitchell an Australian agronomist. She is a senior research scientist with the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries.

Career
Mitchell has worked for the Department of Environment and Primary Industries and been based at Rutherglen for the last 25 years. She is a pasture agronomist and her research has focused on the selection of native grass cultivars for agricultural systems and the management of existing native pastures. Mitchell was part of the successful LIGULE native grass selection project, from which six native grass cultivars have been released.

Mitchell has participated in a number of multi-disciplinary teams, collaborating with agricultural scientists from different state departments and universities throughout Australia. This research has involved national germplasm by environment trials on a range of both native (NLIGN) and introduced species. Mitchell was part of the CRC for Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity and part of the Future Farm Industries CRC.

Mitchell has published an identification book on native grasses, which is currently in its third edition, and has co-authored two book chapters on native pastures.

Mitchell received her PhD in 2013 from Charles Sturt University. The research focused on Microlaena (Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides) a native perennial grass that is widespread in native pastures of the temperate high rainfall zone (> 550 mm AAR) of south-eastern Australia.  The thesis addressed the underlying ecology of the species and examines those attributes which allow it to be sustained and increased in grazed native pastures.  A greater understanding of species ecology will allow better optimisation of its contribution to the provision of feed and ground cover. To undertake this postgraduate training, Mitchell was supported by a scholarship from Charles Sturt University, a top up scholarship from FFI CRC and a DPI postgraduate award. Mitchell also received a Fellowship from AW Howard Memorial Trust.

Mitchell was a Proof site leader on the EverGraze project.  EverGraze is seeking to develop new farming systems for the high rainfall zone (>550 mm) based on deep rooted perennial pastures that significantly increase wool and livestock producers' profits, while stabilising or enhancing natural resource management (NRM) outcomes. This research has focused on the effects of grazing management on the production, botanical composition and nutritive characteristics of perennial native pastures using a breeding merino ewes.

References

Women agronomists
Australian women scientists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Australian agronomists
Charles Sturt University alumni


title: Parachalastinus

text:
Parachalastinus is a genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae, containing the following species:

 Parachalastinus championi (Bates, 1885)
 Parachalastinus flavescens Julio, 2005
 Parachalastinus nigrescens Galileo & Martins, 2001
 Parachalastinus rubrocinctus (Bates, 1869)

References

Anisocerini


title: Daniel Féret

text:
Daniel Féret (born 7 August 1944 in Momignies) is Belgian politician most noted as founder and long-term leader of the National Front. Féret worked as a physician.

In his youth Féret was a member of the far-right Jeune Europe and subsequently the populist Union Democratique du Travail. He was not a leading member in either group however and did not become well-known figure until later.

He established the National Front in 1985. He was elected a member of the European Parliament in 1994, holding the seat until 1999. His personal political philosophy was inspired almost wholly by that of the French National Front, which he sought to copy, although his own party attracted an eclectic membership of extremists, ranging from populists to neo-Nazis.

On 18 April 2006 he was sentenced to 250 hours of community service for the incitement to hatred, discrimination and segregation in the party's flyers and website. As a result of this case he was prohibited from standing for parliamentary elections for ten years.

He remained party leader from its foundation until 2008. He was eventually forced out by disgruntled party members who accused him variously of deliberately retarding the development of party organisation in order to ensure his personal control and of using the party as a personal source of wealth.

References

1944 births
Living people
20th-century Belgian physicians
National Front (Belgium) politicians
MEPs for Belgium 1989–1994
20th-century Belgian criminals
People from Hainaut (province)


title: Temperance Billiard Hall, Chelsea

text:
The Temperance Billiard Hall at 131–141 King's Road, Chelsea, London, is a Grade II listed building with English Heritage.

It was built around 1912–14 to a design by Thomas Retford Somerford for Temperance Billiards Halls Ltd., and became an antiques centre in the 1960s. It is still retail premises. It is now connected to the former Chelsea Garage in 15 Flood Street, which is also Grade II listed.

Gallery

References

Grade II listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Billiard halls
Temperance movement
Buildings and structures completed in 1914
King's Road, Chelsea, London


title: Tambatitanis

text:
Tambatitanis (meaning "Tamba giant", after Tamba, the name given to the northwest of Kansai, Japan) is an extinct genus of titanosauriform dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (probably early Albian) of Japan. It is known from a single type species, Tambatitanis amicitiae, which is known from the Sasayama Group. It was probably around  long and its mass was estimated at some . It was a basal titanosauriform and possibly belonged to the Euhelopodidae. The holotype was collected between 2006 and 2010.

References

Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Fossil taxa described in 2014
Fossils of Japan


title: Phacellocera

text:
Phacellocera is a monotypic genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae described by Laporte in 1840. Its only species, Phacellocera plumicornis, was described by Johann Christoph Friedrich Klug in 1825.

References

Anisocerini
Beetles described in 1825
Monotypic beetle genera


title: Emma Johnston

text:
Emma Letitia Johnston  (born 1973) is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney. She was former, Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales and President of Science & Technology Australia. She is an authority in marine ecology and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UNSW.

Whilst at UNSW, Professor Johnston was head of the Applied Marine and Estuarine Ecology Lab at UNSW and led major projects for industry, government, the Australian Research Council and the Australian Antarctic Science Program.

Johnston was the inaugural Director of the Sydney Harbour Research Program at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.

Johnston's research group at UNSW investigates the ecology of human impacts in marine systems, combining the diverse disciplines of ecology, microbiology and ecotoxicology to expand fundamental understanding and provide recommendations for management.  Her research is conducted in such diverse field environments as Sydney Harbour, Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef and temperate Australian estuaries.

, Johnston has published over 112 peer-reviewed works.

Early life
Born in 1973, to parents who were both scientists at that time, Johnston studied physics and chemistry in high school, not biology. However, being a keen sailor from a very young age and interested in all things to do with the water, she decided to focus on biology in her undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Science) at the University of Melbourne, which she completed in 1998 with first class Honours.

Johnston completed her PhD in marine ecology in 2002 at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Mick Keough.

She joined UNSW as an associate lecturer in 2001 and is now Dean of Science.

Career

Research
Among Johnston's significant research findings is the discovery that toxic contaminants facilitate the invasion of coastal waterways by non-indigenous species. Some of her research topics include: determining the major drivers of marine bio-invasions, the vulnerability of Antarctic marine communities, and developing new biomonitoring techniques and informing the development of effective management of biodiversity in Australian estuarine systems.

Other activities
Johnston is also a high profile science communicator, winning the 2015 Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Australian Science Research. She is a regular media commentator and, as co-presenter of the Foxtel/BBC television series Coast Australia. has helped take Australian marine science to an international audience. She also launched a Sydney Harbour cruise called Underwater Secrets' – Sydney Harbour Revealed, which focuses on scientific research into the waterway.

As President of Science & Technology Australia, Professor Johnston is also a public advocate for science and for increasing the participation of women in research.

Awards
Johnston's research has led to her being a category winner in the 2012 NSW Science and Engineering Awards and in 2014 she won the inaugural Australian Academy of Science Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science. This medal was presented to Johnston at Science at the Shine Dome on 28 May 2014.

Johnston was a 2007 winner of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science's Tall Poppy Award for her research into the effects of introduced species and contaminants on existing Australian marine species.

In 2015 Johnston won The Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry AU Mid-Career Medal for excellence in scientific work in Australasia that has involved substantial environmental toxicology and chemistry. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (FRSN).

Johnston was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (OA) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours for "distinguished service to higher education, particularly to marine ecology and ecotoxicology, as an academic, researcher and administrator, and to scientific institutes." In September 2018 she was named one of The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence in the Innovation category. In December 2018 she was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Johnston was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE) in 2019 and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.

References

External links
 Official profile at the University of New South Wales
 Emma Johnston on Coast Australia
 One Plus One 'Nature Plus Nurture' Summer Series: Emma Johnston Interview with Jane Hutcheon, ABC TV, broadcast 7 January 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.

Australian ecologists
Women ecologists
Australian women scientists
University of Melbourne alumni
Living people
1973 births
Australian toxicologists
Academic staff of the University of New South Wales
Officers of the Order of Australia
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering


title: Henry Luddington

text:
Henry Tansley Luddington (9 December 1854 – 14 April 1922) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and the "Gentlemen of England" side in the 1870s. He was born at Littleport, Cambridgeshire and died at Ashdon, Essex.

Luddington was educated at Uppingham School, where he was coached by the famous cricketer H. H. Stephenson, at King's Ely and at Jesus College, Cambridge. He had a trial match for the Cambridge University cricket team in 1874, but did not get into the first eleven until 1876 when he achieved some success with his right-arm fast bowling, delivering the ball round arm. His batting as a right-handed tail-ender was negligible. Picked for the 1876 University Match against Oxford University, he took 5 for 51 in the first innings and 4 for 72 in the second as Cambridge won by seven wickets; in the first innings, he shared the Oxford wickets with William Patterson, with whom he had been at school at Uppingham. Luddington's best bowling performance came for Cambridge in 1877 against the Marylebone Cricket Club: he took 5 for 28 as MCC, including W. G. Grace, were dismissed for just 60. In the 1877 University Match, Luddington and Patterson again shared the Oxford first-innings wickets equally, Luddington taking 5 for 90, but Oxford won the match easily. After leaving Cambridge, Luddington played only one further first-class match, appearing for the Gentlemen of England in a fixture at Cambridge in 1878.

Luddington appears not to have followed any career after graduating from Cambridge in 1877; he was a Justice of the Peace and a county councillor for the Isle of Ely after that district achieved county status with local government reform in 1888. He bought Walton's Park at Ashdon on the Essex/Cambridgeshire border in 1917 and died there five years later.

References

1854 births
1922 deaths
English cricketers
Cambridge University cricketers
Gentlemen of England cricketers
People educated at Uppingham School
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
People from Littleport, Cambridgeshire
People educated at King's Ely
Cricketers from Cambridgeshire


title: Gustav Rydergård

text:
Frej Gustav Rydergård (born 9 July 1984 in Falun) is a Swedish former handballer.

Achievements
Elitserien:
Winner: 2009

Individual awards
 Elitserien Best Defensive Player: 2008, 2009

References

1984 births
Sportspeople from Falun
Swedish male handball players
Living people
CS Dinamo București (men's handball) players
Swedish expatriates in Germany
Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Romania
Expatriate handball players


title: Phacellocerina

text:
Phacellocerina is a genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae, containing the following species:

 Phacellocerina limosa (Bates, 1862)
 Phacellocerina seclusa Lane, 1964
 Phacellocerina silvanae Julio, 2003

References

Anisocerini


title: Sandra McLaren

text:
Sandra McLaren is an Australian geologist.

Interested in geology and geothermal energy from a young age, McLaren completed her PhD at Adelaide University in 2001 and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.  She is a noted science communicator and educator, especially on the topic of sustainable energy through hot rocks in southern Australia.

In 2008, McLaren received a Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award, and attended the inaugural InterAcademy Panel meeting for Young Scientists. In 2008 she received the Australian Academy of Science's Dorothy Hill award.  The same year, she and Professor Mike Sandford received a grant from the Australian Research Council to research the mechanics of hot rocks and subsequently the potential for geothermal energy in Australia. She was a member of the Global Young Academy.

References

Australian geologists
Australian women scientists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of Adelaide alumni
Academic staff of the University of Melbourne


title: Mollie Holman

text:
Mollie Elizabeth Holman  (18 June 1930 – 20 August 2010)  was an Australian physiologist whose work focused on muscles and the central nervous system.

Personal life
Mollie Holman was born on 18 June 1930 in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

Daughter of an influential father William, a physician and radiologist and of homemaker mother Mollie (née Bain), Professor Holman was raised as one of four girls. Her father was very supportive of each daughter's intellectual development, and sparked and supported Mollie's interest in physics.

Holman died on 20 August 2010. She is survived by her sisters Jill, Joan and Lucie and their families.

Education
Holman completed a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree at the University of Melbourne in 1952 and a Master of Science (MSc) in 1955. She then moved to England where she undertook studies at the University of Oxford, completing a doctorate in pharmacology in 1957. She received Doctor of Science (DSc) from Monash University in the 1960s.

Working life

1953–54 – Demonstrator in Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne-
1955–57 – Research student at the University of Oxford, on a University of Melbourne Travelling Scholarship
1957 – Wellcome Research Grant in Oxford
1958–62 – Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Melbourne
1962 – Senior Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Melbourne
1963 – Senior Lecturer in Physiology at Monash University
1965 – Edgeworth David Medal received from the Royal Society of New South Wales
1965-7? – Career position – Reader in Physiology at Monash University
1970 – Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1970–96 – Professor at Monash University
1996 – Emeritus Professor at Monash University

Research
Professor Holman's research focused on the complex network of nerve cells that regulate autonomic movements (such as digestion and blood pressure), and how these interact with smooth muscle in the body.

In a successful collaboration with Geoff Burnstock, Mollie showed how nerves initiated smooth muscle contractions. She often worked late at night to avoid the unwanted vibrations from the rumblings of passing daytime traffic that interfered with her fine electrodes. Holman completed her DPhil degree in 1957 and returned to Australia in 1958. At about the same time Burnstock was appointed to the department of zoology, allowing the collaboration to continue. Their work on smooth muscle and its nerve supply was pioneering. A series of papers was published, beginning with a note to Nature magazine in 1960. This brought Mollie to the attention of the scientific community.

Sample paper from Google Scholar: [HTML] Two types of neurones in the myenteric plexus of duodenum in the guinea-pig
GDS Hirst, ME Holman, I Spence – The Journal of Physiology, 1974 – Physiological Soc

Other interests
Mollie had a rich social life and many interests (ranging from roller-skating, as a child, to skiing and travel, as an adult) she applied herself after retirement to a range of tasks including learning about computers.

Awards
1965 – Edgeworth David Medal received from the Royal Society of New South Wales
1998 – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for service to scientific research, particularly relating to the autonomic nervous system and the control of smooth muscle, and to education and university administration".
2001 – Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society and science".

The Mollie Holman Medal
Monash University offered for the first time in 1998, up to 10 medals for award to doctoral candidates, normally one from each faculty, who have fulfilled their degree requirements and presented their faculty's best thesis of the year.

Notable recipients
Notable recipients include:

 Adrian Martin, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture
 Greer Honeywill, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture
 Jared Purton, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
 David Chesworth, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture
 David Wood (mathematician), Faculty of Information Technology
Helen Johnson (artist), Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture

References

External links
 Photo of Mollie Holman

 Farewell to Mollie Holman – Monash University Website
 Mollie Holman Medal – Monash University Website

1930 births
2010 deaths
Australian physiologists
Women physiologists
Australian women scientists
Officers of the Order of Australia
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
University of Melbourne alumni
Monash University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne women
Academic staff of Monash University
20th-century women scientists


title: Jean Finnegan

text:
Elizabeth Jean Finnegan FAA is an Australian botanist who researches plant flowering processes and epigenetic regulation in plants.
She currently works at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a senior scientist, leading research on the "Control of Floral Initiation", part of the CSIRO Agriculture Flagship (formerly known as CSIRO Plant Industry).

Education
Finnegan received her Bachelor of Science (honours) from the University of Adelaide, and her PhD from the University of Adelaide in 1979. Her thesis was Transcriptional studies of bacteriophage 186.

Recognition
Finnegan was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in May 2014 on the basis of her world leading research on plant gene expression. Her contribution to plant science includes her early work, cloning the first plant  (METI), and her work demonstrating that DNA methylation (a biochemical process that modifies the plant's DNA) is essential for normal plant development and by reducing levels of methylation changes the plant's size and shape, flowering time, structure of the flowers and number of seeds.

In 2012, Finnegan was awarded the Julian Wells Medal for contributions to research on the organisation and expression of the genome.

Finnegan is on the editorial board for BMC Plant Biology.

Research
Finnegan's research focuses on epigenetic mechanisms of flowering processes in plants, specifically, the role of DNA methylation in normal plant development.
DNA methylation is a biochemical process that modifies DNA, with Finnegan's work some of the first to show this in plants. She generated plants with reduced levels of DNA methylation using an antisense against METI, and determined the molecular basis for the abnormal phenotypes displayed by plants with reduced levels of methylation.
She continues to be a leader in her field through her research on flowering processes and the role of DNA methylation and epigenetics helping to understand the mechanisms contributing to the down-regulation of flowering locus C (FLC) in vernalized plants. The focus of her current research is investigating the role of DNA methylation in regulating traits of agronomic importance in wheat.

References

20th-century Australian botanists
Australian women botanists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
University of Adelaide alumni
21st-century Australian botanists
20th-century women scientists
21st-century Australian women scientists
20th-century Australian women


title: Chuanqilong

text:
Chuanqilong (meaning "legendary dragon") is a monospecific genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Liaoning Province, China that lived during the Early Cretaceous (late Barremian to Aptian stage, 122.0 to 118.9 Ma) in what is now the Jiufotang Formation. The type and only species, Chuanqilong chaoyangensis, is known from a nearly complete skeleton with a skull of a juvenile individual. It was described in 2014 by Fenglu Han, Wenjie Zheng, Dongyu Hu, Xing Xu, and Paul M. Barrett. Chuanqilong shows many similarities with Liaoningosaurus and may represent a later ontogenetic stage of the taxon.

Chuanqilong was a medium-sized ankylosaur, with an estimated length of 4.5 metres (14.8 feet), although it has been suggested that it would have been larger due to the immature age of the type specimen. It had a triangular skull and a neck that was protected by bands of osteoderms known as cervical half rings. The rest of the body was covered in osteoderms and ossicles of various shapes and sizes. Unlike derived ankylosaurids, the end of its tail lacked a club. Like other ankylosaurids, it was quadrupedal with robust forelimbs and hindlimbs.

Discovery and naming

A nearly complete skeleton was collected by local farmers from a single quarry in the Liaoning Province, China. The skeleton was recovered from the Jiufotang Formation which dates to the late Barremian to Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous period, 122.0 to 118.9 Ma. The specimen was named and described in 2014 by Fenglu Han, Wenjie Zheng, Dongyu Hu, Xing Xu, and Paul M. Barrett. The holotype specimen, CJPM V001, consists of a nearly complete skull and skeleton, with only the distal portion of the caudal series missing, and represents a juvenile individual. The authors noted that the specimen was at a more advanced ontogenetic stage than the specimens of the sympatric Liaoningosaurus based on the larger size of the type specimen, the size of the orbit and the tooth count. The specimen is preserved two-dimensionally, with only the ventral side being visible. Most of the skull is compressed dorsoventrally and most of the vertebral column is disarticulated, while the limbs are preserved in articulation. The type specimen is currently housed at the Chaoyang Jizantang Paleontological Museum, while a cast of the specimen (IVPP FV 1978) is housed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

The generic name, Chuanqilong, is derived from the Chinese words "Chuanqi" (legendary), in reference to the abundance of fossils of western Liaoning, and "long" (dragon). The specific name, chaoyangensis, refers to the broader geographical area which encompasses the type locality.

In 2014, the impressions of a scapulocoracoid and humerus belonging to an indeterminate ankylosaur with an estimated body length of 6.0-8.6 metres (19.7-18.2 feet) were described from the Jiufotang Formation and, at the time, was the first ankylosaur described from the formation. A Canadian Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology abstract book that was published in 2019 mentioned that the type and only known specimen of Chuanqilong actually represented an adult individual, in contrast to the interpretation of Han et al. (2014), and may have been Liaoningosaurus at a different and later ontogenetic stage.

Description

Size and distinguishing traits
Han et al. (2014) gave Chuanqilong an estimated length of 4.5 metres (14.8 feet). However, the authors suggested that it could have reached larger sizes as the type specimen represents a juvenile individual.

The describing authors indicated two distinguishing traits. Both of these are autapomorphies, unique derived characters. The quadrate has a glenoid fossa that is at the same level as the dentary tooth row. The distally tapering ischium is constricted at midshaft length. Other distinguishing traits include the presence of a long retroarticular process, the  presence of a lacrimal that is slender and wedge-like, a ratio of humerus to femur length of 0.88, the width of the proximal end of the humerus is half of the length of the humeral shaft, and the presence of subtriangular unguals.

Cranium

In ventral view, the skull is triangular. The maxilla has a buccal with a notched margin that is shallow and flattened, while an antorbital fenestra is present in the caudodorsal region. A slender, wedge-shaped lacrimal forms the rostral margin of the orbit and a long supraorbital contacts the lacrimal rostroventrally. A bone which might be composed of the squamosal and the postorbital has a subrectangular outline and grooves that are subparallel. The left quadrate has a rectangular head and is straight, with the shaft forming a wide and shallow depression underneath the quadrate head. Unlike nodosaurids, the quadrate isn't fused with the squamosal. The pterygoid process has a transversely expanded ventral end which is composed of two mandibular condyles, and has an outline that is subrectangular. As in most other ankylosaurs, the medial condyle is wider across and extends further towards the underside than the lateral condyle. As in most ankylosaurs, with the exception of Ankylosaurus, the left maxilla has at least 20 alveoli. The rostral maxillary teeth that are preserved are smaller than the caudal teeth, with their crowns being as tall as they are wide and their bases being swollen with a weak cingulum. The teeth lack crescentic cingula. A rostral maxillary tooth crown has small denticles and cusps present. Some of the teeth have denticles that taper with a round cross-section at the base.

The mandible is similar to that of other basal ankylosaurids as it is long and shallow. However, it lacks an osteoderm on the underside margin unlike other basal ankylosaurids. The absence of the osteoderm might be a result of incomplete preservation as it may not have been fused to the mandibular bone due to the immature age of the holotype. If an osteoderm was presents, it might have been restricted to the sides corner of the mandible. The dentary tooth row is not as strongly sinusoidal as those of derived ankylosaurs and is straight. The dentary has at least 20 alveoli present, with most of the teeth missing. The teeth preserved are similar to the maxillary teeth. The symphysis of the right dentary is downturned slightly and the cross-section is sub-triangular. As in nodosaurids, the coronoid eminence projects above the level of the dentary tooth row. Below the coronoid eminence is the large adductor fossa. The retroarticular process is long and slender, while the articular is small. The glenoid fossa is unlike that of other ankylosaurs as it is situated at the same level as the dentary tooth row.

Postcrania

The centra of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae are spool-like. The cervical centra are shorter than they are wide, while the dorsal centra are longer than tall. and the sacral centra are wider than it is long. All of the centra of the dorsal vertebrae lack a ventral keel. The sacral ribs have a dumbbell-shaped outline and are robust. Present on the caudal vertebrae are deep longitudinal grooves. The centrum of a middle caudal vertebra has a square outline in lateral view. The upper part of the sides of the centrum possesses a transverse process that has been reduced to a small nodular process. The neural spines have a arc-shaped outline and are elongated. The facets of the prezygapophyseal face craniomedially, while the postzygapophyses face caudolaterally. The caudal vertebrae have neural spines that join together with postzygapophyses, as to form a caudal process which ends cranial to the midpoint of the following vertebrae. The reduction of the size of the postzygapophyses coincides with the reduction of the prezygapophyses. Unlike other ankylosaurids, Chuanqilong lacked a tail club as it lacks the modified handle-like vertebrae in the distal portion of the tail.

The coracoid is not co-ossified with the scapula, which might represent an ontogenetic trait as it is also known in other juvenile ankylosaur specimens. The scapula blade has a rhomboid-like outline, with a dorsal margin that is straight and a ventral margin that is concave. The narrowest point of the scapular blade is towards the head of the glenoid fossa. The ventral edge of the scapula lacks a distinct enthesis, which may also represent an ontogenetic trait. The glenoid fossa has an oval outline and is large. The humerus is short, with a large deltopectoral crest. The proximal end of the femur has a width that is much greater than the width of the distal end. The radial condyle is more prominent than the medial ulna condyle, while the lateral epicondylar ridge is underdeveloped. The ulna has a wedge-shaped olecranon process, as in other immature ankylosaur specimens and may represent an ontogenetic characteristic. The radius is slender and rod-like, with a distal end that is wider transversely than the proximal end of the radius. Only the left manus is known, which consists of four metacarpals that are all slender in appearance. Out of all the metacarpals, metacarpal III is the longest while metacarpal IV is the shorter. The other metacarpals are sub-equal in length. The most robust metacarpal is metacarpal I, while metacarpals II and IV are the slenderest. The distal and proximal ends if all the metacarpals are expanded. The ungual phalanges have a triangular outline with a sharp point, while the ventral surfaces are flattened.

The preacetabular process of the ilium is long and is rotated towards the middle, while the postacetabular process is rotated in apposition. The preacetabular process diverges sideways from the vertebral column and has a straight side margin. The postacetabular process has a subtriangular outline and is shorter than the acetabulum. The pubic peduncle has a profile that is sub-rounded and developed, while the ischial peduncle is undeveloped. The ischium is long, lacks an obturator process and has a slender shaft that curves slightly towards the underside. The mid-shaft region of the ischium is narrow and widens towards the distal end before tapering further distally. The ischium has a proximal end that is straight in side view, unlike the convex and fan-like ischium of Ankylosaurus and the concave proximal ischia of Struthiosaurus.

As typical with other ankylosaurs, the femur is both robust and straight. The femoral head forms an articular surface that is circular. The femur possesses both the cranial and greater trochanters, which are separated from the femoral head by a tightening. The cranial trochanter is separated from the greater trochanter, which is seen in juvenile ankylosaur specimens but not in most adult ankylosaurs. However, this may rather represent a plesiomorphic trait of ankylosaurids, as well as a trait under ontogenetic control in some ankylosaurs, due to the cranial trochanter being also present in some nodosaurids. Present on the femur is a shallow cranial intercondylar fossa. Chuanqilong has a similar ratio of humerus to femur length to Ankylosaurus, but lower than that of other juvenile ankylosaur specimens and Hungarosaurus. The tibia is shorter than the femur and robust, with the proximal end having a transverse expansion that is weaker then that of the distal end of the tibia. Slightly shorter than the tibia is the fibula, which is slender and has a shaft that is oval in cross-section, as well as being relatively equal in size. The right foot preserves metatarsals II, III, and IV in articulation. The longest and most robust metatarsal is metatarsal III, while metatarsals II and IV are both sub-equal in length. All of the preserved metatarsals have proximal and distal ends that are expanded. The unguals have a sub-triangular outline with distal ends that are sub-rounded and are similar to that of Dyoplosaurus.

Armour
The only preserved cervical half ring of Chuanqilong consists of a connecting band that is fused into a single plate, but is compressed towards the dorsal and ventral sides and is also segmented into four sections. Of these sections, the right three have a subrectangular outline and are arched upwards, while the left section has a subtriangular profile and tapers caudolaterally. The shoulder region preserves two osteoderm plates that are large, flat, thickened and have a subrectangular outline. The largest of these osteoderm plates is twice the length of the other and are both similar to the osteoderms of cervical half ring but may also represent separate cervical osteoderm plates. Between the proximal end of the left ulna and radius is a small triangular osteoderm that has a wide base and tapers distally. Present near the left ischium is an oval osteoderm that is sharply keeled along the midline. Preserved over the entirety of the body are a diverse range of osteoderms and ossicles that are small and irregular.

Classification

Han et al. (2014) originally found Chuanqilong to be a basal ankylosaurid that was sister taxon to Liaoningosaurus. The authors noted that only two unambiguous synapomorphies supported its close relationship to Liaoningosaurus, which are the presence of an antorbital fossa and a ventrally oriented scapula glenoid. The authors also noted that, although both taxa are represented by juvenile specimens and are sister taxa, Chuanqilong can be differentiated from Liaoningosaurus based on a number of characteristics such as the differences in the metatarsus to metacarpus length ratio and the morphology of the cheek tooth crown. Cladistic analyses conducted by Arbour & Currie (2015) recovered Chuanqilong as either being within a polytomy with other basal ankylosaurids or as sister taxon to Cedarpelta, a position also recovered by Arbour et al. (2016). Analyses conducted by Arbour & Evans (2017), Zheng et al. (2018) and Park et al. (2019) similarly placed Chuanqilong within a polytomy with other basal ankylosaurids, although the inclusion of certain taxa such as Aletopelta within the internal node varied. Rivera-Sylva et al. (2018) also recovered it within a polytomy in a strict consensus tree, but it was also recovered it as sister taxon to Cedarpelta in a 50% majority rule tree. Contrary to other analyses, Frauenfelder et al. (2022) found Chuanqilong to be within a clade including Liaoningosaurus and Cedarpelta outside of Ankylosauridae and Nodosauridae. In 2019, an abstract suggested the possibility that Chuanqilong and Liaoningosaurus may represent the same species but at different ontogenetic stages.

Below is a reproduced phylogenetic analysis from Arbour & Currie (2015).

Paleoenvironment

The remains of Chuanqilong were uncovered from the Jiufotang Formation of the Jehol Group. The formation is composed of mudstones, siltstones, shales, sandstones and tuffs, and overlies the Yixian Formation. Recent secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) zircon U-Pb analyses suggest that the formation dates to the late Barremian  to Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous, ca. 122.0–118.9 Ma. Both the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations represent freshwater lacustrine environments that lacked rivers as well as many other variable features of freshwater settings, and would have fluctuated seasonally between semi-arid and mesic conditions. The Jiufotang Formation experienced infrequent volcanic activity, while the younger Yixian Formation had more frequent activity. A combination of regional volcanism and the presence of many shallow lakes allowed the exceptional preservation of fossils and the preservation of integument impressions, cartilage and keratin.

A variety of forms of Euornithines (such as Mengciusornis, Piscivoravis, Parahongshanornis, and Yanornis) and Enantiornithines (such as Cuspirostrisornis, Longipteryx, Rapaxavis, Sinornis, and Yuanchuavis) are present in the Jiufotang Formation. Numerous pterosaurs are also known from the formation including the chaoyangopterids Chaoyangopterus, Eoazhdarcho, Jidapterus and Shenzhoupterus, the ctenochasmatid Forfexopterus, the anhanguerids Guidraco and Liaoningopterus, the lonchodraconid Ikrandraco, the istiodactyliforms Hongshanopterus, Liaoxipterus, Linlongopterus and Nurhachius, the tapejarid Sinopterus,  the anurognathid Vesperopterylus and the indeterminate pterodactyloid Pangupterus. Other fauna present include the jeholornithiforms Jeholornis and Kompsornis, the omnivoropterygids Omnivoropteryx and Sapeornis, the oviraptorosaur Similicaudipteryx, the dromaeosaurid Microraptor, the tyrannosauroid Sinotyrannus, the ceratopsian Psittacosaurus, the mammaliamorphs Fossiomanus and Liaoconodon, and the choristoderes Philydrosaurus, Ikechosaurus and Liaoxisaurus.

References

Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Jiufotang fauna
Cretaceous China
Fossils of China
Fossil taxa described in 2014
Ornithischian genera


title: Maisie Carr

text:
Maisie Carr (née Fawcett; 1912–1988) was an innovative Australian ecologist and botanist who contributed much to the understanding of the uniqueness of Australian plants and their environmental systems.

Foundation years

Maisie Carr was born Stella Grace Maisie Fawcett in Footscray, Melbourne. Neither of her parents had a science background but her love of plants was likely fostered by visits to nearby salt-marshes, her grandmother's garden and in nature study classes.

Carr attended Footscray's Hyde Street State School where she was first in her class and Dux in 1924 and then attended Melbourne High School. Her diligence was evident at an early age; in 1920 she won £2 in a competition for finding the largest number (87) of Australian postal towns within the letters of AUSTRALBA TOOTH PASTE (the sponsor of the competition).

After graduation she returned to her old primary school as a junior teacher while at night studying zoology and geology at Austral Coaching College. Carr attended University of Melbourne (on a Teachers' College secondary studentship) being awarded B.Sc.,1935 and M.Sc. in Botany, 1936.

Carr's academic abilities won her a number of scholarships. In March 1935, she was awarded the Howitt natural history scholarship, established from a bequest of entomologist Godfrey Howitt.

In December 1936, Carr was awarded the Wyselaskie Scholarship, established by John Dickson Wyselaskie in 1883.

In April 1937, Carr was awarded the Caroline Kay scholarship in Botany; the scholarship was established by the Reverend David Kay in memory of his daughter Caroline.

Major research interests

Ecology of Australian Alps

Although her initial research activities focused on coral fungi, she studied fungal and nematode diseases of plants as well. As a student, attending field-trips with the McCoy Society for Field Investigation and Research proved to be a harbinger for decades of her subsequent professional life. In 1936, Carr participated in one of the society's expeditions to Sir Joseph Banks Islands in the Spencer Gulf of South Australia to undertake a full scientific survey of the islands.

In 1940, Carr was appointed the secretary of the committee to award the Isabella D. Marshall scholarship to enable a female student to live away from home in order to study at the University of Melbourne. Marshall was the mistress of method of English in the School of Education at the University of Melbourne until her death in 1938. Marshalls friends raised £500 to fund the scholarship.

From 1941 onward, Carr conducted extensive innovative ecology research in the Australian alpine environment where extensive over-grazing by cattle and sheep was causing soil erosion and degradation of a delicate ecosystem. Permits to graze these high plains commenced in the late 1880s and the changes wrought by the hooved animals facilitated the arrival (in 1920s) of rabbits which caused further change.

Additional motivation for the studies was prompted by the soil siltation threat to the soon to be constructed Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme. Carr was the first research officer of the Soil Conservation Board and was responsible for establishing exclusion fencing on reference plots in Bogong High Plains. Having excluded grazing from select high-plains plots (and not from adjacent plots), Carr and team members recorded changes in regrowth vegetation (both type and density) over decades.

In the early years, Carr surveyed these plots via horseback on her own but over subsequent years with teams of participants (from department of botany, University of Melbourne), these plots have become the longest continuous series of ecological data-sites in Australia. In 2022 "Maisie's plots" were added to the Victorian Heritage Register.

Chronology of alpine ecology events

The sequence of significant events in alpine ecology and Maisie Carr's role is detailed below:

 1944: Soil Conservation Board established – Maisie Carr Research Officer
 1945: Establishment of exclusion plots in Rocky Valley
 1946:  Establishment of exclusion plots in Pretty Valley
 1947: Publication of Report on the Ecology of Hume Catchment
 1966: One of Carr's final High Plains expeditions
 1968: Grazing gradually withdrawn from Kosciuszko National Park
 1991: Grazing phased out to 20% of Bogong High Plains
 2005: Grazing banned from Victorian Alpine National Park

Eucalypt taxonomy

While initiating foundation alpine ecology studies, Carr became frustrated with the inadequacy of published floras and responded by preparing a botanical key. This has evolved into a teaching collection of 100-200 plant specimens from that region of north-east Victoria which is still in use for teaching and research field work purposes today.

Much of this early taxonomy work was undertaken while she was employed at University of Melbourne (beginning in 1949) in the Botany Department headed at the time by Prof. J. S. Turner. In addition to her research interests, she lectured on plant taxonomy as well as ecology (to science and agricultural students) becoming a senior lecturer in that department three years later.

Together with Professor John Stewart Turner she published academic reports of the results of the exclusion fencing experiments and more broadly the destructive impact of grazing on the ecology (of plant life as well as soil degradation) of the Victorian alpine region.

Carr's interest in the taxonomy of Australian plants (particularly the Genus Eucalyptus) extended beyond the alpine species and this interest was fostered by her marriage (in 1955) to Denis John Carr, who was also an academic in the botany department at University of Melbourne. Their marriage was the start of decades of collaborative efforts studying plant morphology and taxonomy.  Their studies continued during academic appointments (of DJ Carr) in Belfast (1960-1967) and later back in Australia (in Canberra, Australian National University from 1968) where Carr was a visiting fellow. Their academic contributions together resulted in dozens of articles, often in highly specialist publications.

The couple was opposed to any splitting of the genus Eucalyptus into smaller groupings. They did, however, make significant contributions to descriptions of the morphology of eucalypts. Published phylogenetic analyses (based on DNA sequences and morphology) would later show that Eucalyptus was not a particularly uniform genus and that the classification needed to be revised. The current definitive electronic identification and information system covering 894 Australian eucalypts is EUCLID.

Later life
Carr was a chain smoker (of cigarettes) and developed chronic bronchitis. She was eventually hospitalized for this (and related conditions); she died on Friday 9 September 1988 in the Royal Canberra Hospital. She was buried in Gungahlin cemetery on Tuesday 13 September 1988. Her husband Denis died on Saturday 19 July 2008 and was buried with Maisie on Monday 28 July 2008.

Legacy

The University of Melbourne has established a set of scholarships, called the Maisie Fawcett Scholarships, in her honour.

References

External links
An obituary of Maisie Carr, by ANU colleague Prof.Brian Gunning
Big Fella is Watching - change on the Bogong High Plains
 photo of an elderly Maisie Carr

1912 births
1988 deaths
Australian women scientists
Australian ecologists
Australian women botanists
Women ecologists
Scientists from Melbourne
University of Melbourne alumni
University of Melbourne women
20th-century Australian botanists
20th-century women scientists
20th-century Australian women
People from Footscray, Victoria


title: Saint Eigrad

text:
Saint Eigrad or Eugrad was a sixth-century Welsh saint and the founder of St Eugrad's Church in Llaneugrad, Anglesey.

Life
Eigrad is mentioned in Caradoc's Life of Gildas (12th century). He was a son of king Caw of Strathclyde, a brother of saints Gildas, and Samson of York and was a student of Saint Illtud.

In 605 AD he founded a church at Llaneugrad, Anglesey and his brother Gallgo, founded a church at Llanallgo, nearby. Today the two churches are in the same parish.

Memorial
His feast day is 6 January.

References

Welsh Roman Catholic saints
6th-century Christian saints
6th-century births
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
6th-century Welsh people