Martin James Wilson (1 August 1959 – 11 August 2022) was an

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

and community leader from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In the 1980s he initiated and ran several Cuba Street Carnivals, started the Birdman competitions on the Wellington waterfront and initiated festivals and craft markets though several suburbs over decades. He raised awareness of food waste via setting up and running

guerrilla gardening Guerrilla gardening is the act of gardening – raising food, plants, or flowers – on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned sites, areas that are not being cared for, or private property. It enco ...

composting in his local suburb of Aro Valley.

Early years

Wilson's parents were Diana Wilson and architect Derek Wilson. His father published two environmental and anti-nuclear books. Wilson was the youngest of three boys, and was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He went to high school at the liberal

Onslow College Onslow College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Johnsonville, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It had a student population in 2020 of 1250 students. The current principal is Sheena Millar. History Onslow College opened i ...

then to study several disciplines from anthropology to politics, development studies to international relations, psychology to geography, environment studies to public policy, economics and commercial law at Victoria University. He was part of the central city, Cuba Street and Aro Valley scene from the 1980s which led him to playing in bands and then creating and running the original

Cuba Street Carnival The Cuba Street Carnival was a street parade and creative celebration in Cuba Street, Wellington, New Zealand that was intermittently held from the 1980s and saw crowds of 10,000 - 20,000 people. It stopped in 2009 due to a lack of funding, and w ...

1980s and '90s

The Upper

s were antecedent to two more privately run Carnivals in the middle of Cuba Street in 1991 and 1993. Wilson ran another in 1995. The City Council funded them from 1998–2009 as a biennial event. Since 2015 Council have run the Cuba Dupa festival With his company Capital Productions Ltd., Wilson created the craft market in civic square and several annual, community, village festivals in

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name ''Karori'' used ...

, Newtown,

Aro Valley The Aro Valley forms a small inner-city suburb of Wellington in New Zealand. It takes its name from the stream which originally flowed where modern Epuni Street is. The stream's Māori name was originally Wai-Mapihi, but it was commonly called Te ...

Khandallah Khandallah is a suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located northeast of the city centre, on hills overlooking Wellington Harbour. Description The northeastern part of the suburb is dominated by a large area of park ...

Kilbirnie Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisle ...

and elsewhere. Wilson ran multiple annual Birdman Festivals which included an event where competitors jump into the harbour often in elaborate costume. They were held on the Wellington waterfront.

2000s

Wilson became an elected member of the Aro Valley Community Council and was well known for his determined and often challenging beliefs particularly around environmental matters. He wrote in the Valley's newsletter on local urban farming group Kai o Te Aro and composting. He created two community

worm farms and composting systems. The first farm in 2018 was removed by the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

and the second, the "Hotel de Worm" at the northern entrance to Holloway Road, was also threatened with removal, but following the intervention of Green councilor Iona Pannett the community composting worm farm was saved. As an avid

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player and coach he introduced the sport into Wellington schools, coached and became president of the Victoria University Flying Disc Club which recently created a specific award for fairness and sports-person-ship in his name. In 2013 Wilson stood, unsuccessfully, for council in the Onslow-Western Ward. Wilson organised Birdman Festivals in 2015 and 2017.

Music

Wilson played guitar in and managed several bands. He also ran raves in warehouses through the 1990s.

Personal life

He had two sons with Patrice Diamantis and one daughter with Laila Faisal. Martin lived in the Aro Valley's Holloway Road where he and his public guerrilla gardening composting initiative were well known. Wilson died in Wellington on 11 August 2022 of prostate cancer, aged 63.

References

External links

*https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22765519?search%5Bpath%5D=items Martin Wilson fixing bicycle with sons photograph. *https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1162964 Cuba Street Carnival poster. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Martin 1959 births 2022 deaths People from Wellington City New Zealand musicians