Jill Edwina Amos (née Turner, 26 August 1927 – 19 April 2017) was a New Zealand politician and community leader.

Biography

Born in the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

suburb of Devonport on 26 August 1927, Amos was the daughter of Charles Edwin Ross Turner and Lucy Caroline Turner (née Mansfield). She married Phil Amos in 1949, and the couple, both schoolteachers, taught in various isolated New Zealand communities. They had two sons, and an adopted daughter. Phil Amos was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from 1963 to 1975, and served as a cabinet minister in the third Labour government (1972–1975). In 1977, Jill and Phil Amos went to

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

to teach, but Jill Amos returned to New Zealand the following year and the couple divorced. Before she left Tanzania she nominated for the Labour candidacy for the electorate of . She posted a cassette tape which was played at the selection meeting in her stead. She was unsuccessful in her bid for the nomination. Jill Amos was appointed as a justice of the peace in 1980, and served as the president of the Citizens Association for Racial Equality between 1980 and 1981. A long-time Labour Party member, she went on to be elected as a

Manukau City Council Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...

lor (1974–77; 1980–90) and an Auckland Regional Councillor (1980–83). She was one of the founders of the

New Zealand AIDS Foundation The Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)) is New Zealand’s national HIV prevention and healthcare organisation. Its funding is derived from grants, donations and the Ministry of Health. The Burnett Found ...

, and during the

1994 South African election General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was c ...

she was a United Nations

observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

. Amos was awarded the

New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was established by Royal Warrant on 1 July 1993. It was created to commemorate Women's suffrage in New Zealand and to recognize those New Zealand and Commonwealth citizens who had made a significant ...

in 1993. In the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

, she was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the community. Amos died at home in

Katikati Katikati is a town in New Zealand (North Island) located on the Uretara Stream near a tidal inlet towards the northern end of Tauranga Harbour, 28 kilometres south of Waihi and 40 kilometres northwest of Tauranga. State Highway 2 passes through ...

on 19 April 2017, aged 89. She was survived by two of her three children.

References

1927 births 2017 deaths People from North Shore, New Zealand New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists 20th-century New Zealand women politicians New Zealand Labour Party politicians Manukau City Councillors Auckland regional councillors Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand politicians {{NewZealand-Labour-politician-stub