Former Hāwea resident Douglas (Doug) Brenssell has been awarded the King’s Service Medal (KSM) for services to the community in the New Year’s Honours List.

Doug, who now lives in Oamaru, contributed to the Hāwea community through various organisations for 25 years.

His nomination was “a good shock”, he told the Wānaka App.

“I’m very proud and grateful of the opportunity to be involved in the community. You don’t go out and volunteer in the community and try and make a difference and sit there with your hand out for recognition.

“You do it because you want to help people.”

Doug has been a committee member and caretaker of the Lake Hāwea Community Centre since 2003, and in 2011 was a key member of the group which raised funds and actioned the extension of the centre. 

He has been a committee member of the Hāwea Community Association since 2006. He has been the founding organiser of the Hāwea District Anzac Service, and helped develop and maintain the Anzac memorial area and monument beside the lake. 

Doug said while he has enjoyed everything he got involved in, one of the things he is most proud of is the growth of the Anzac service.

“It was the year of the first Contact Epic [2008],” Doug said. “[Race director] Aaron Nicholson gave me the opportunity for a quick Anzac service. We hastily got the word out there. I had a flag and flagpole and a rope - that was about it.”

About 60 people turned up on the peninsula that first year, and the event has grown each year since.

“I went back this year and there were close to 1,200 people. Who would have thought that when we started in 2008?

“We put passion and commitment and dedication to it, the people are all very proud of it. So special for our wee community.”

Doug has been groundsman for community events, including the Waitangi Day Challenge community sports competition and the 2019 Otago Goldfields Cavalcade. 

In recent years Doug has been the Hāwea Flat School caretaker, where his dedication and his distinctive uniform of shorts and a high-vis vest inspired annual ‘Dress Like Doug’ days.

Doug retired at the end of 2024 but is now working as caretaker at his grandchildren’s school in Oamaru two days a week.

“I missed the kids, and it was an opportunity to make a difference.”

He has been on the committee of the Hāwea Picnic Racing Club, and was a founding member of the Hāwea Domain Board in 2020. He was a founding member of the Upper Clutha Community Patrol, and a member of the Volunteer Fire Brigades of both Heriot and Lake Hāwea for 27 years. 

Doug was recognised with the inaugural Hāwea Volunteer of the Year award in 2012.

He volunteered for the Department of Corrections for more than 10 years, supporting those with community work sentences. This work was another highlight for Doug, he told the Wānaka App. 

“I absolutely loved that - did it for close to 12-15 years,” he said.

“I met some lovely people, who obviously made a mistake and the man or the lady in the high seat said ‘you have to go and see Doug’.

“We did a lot of things in the community that people weren’t aware of; we achieved a lot and sometimes had a lot of fun.”

Doug said having had two ‘heart children’ - children with childhood heart conditions - has had a big impact on his philosophy of life.

“To go to Auckland and think you’re the most special people in New Zealand; and walk into the heart ward in Greenland hospital and there’s nine other babies there - you realise you’re not alone,” he said.

“We got help, our children survived, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some beautiful parents and the terrible sadness of them losing their children.”

Doug believes you get out of life what you put into it, and “you’ve got to look at the big picture”.

Being awarded the KSM has been “the icing on the cake”, he said.

“Sometimes I’ve still got to pinch myself,” he said, adding that he planned to keep the official paperwork from Government House in his glovebox of his ute in the expectation of being ribbed by his mates about its existence.

PHOTOS: Supplied