Arjan van der Boon - Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau

Arjan van der Boon suspected something was up ahead of the opening of the Abel Tasman exhibition at Foxton's Dutch Museum - so he got himself ready in a jacket and tie. It was still a huge surprise to receive a knighthood by the Netherlands from the Dutch ambassador, presented beneath the full scale replica of the 17th-century Dutch windmill that stands next to the museum. Receiving the honour was the culmination of 12 years of working to establish Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, a multicultural centre in the Horowhenua town that houses the museum. Van der Boon is a marketing lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology.