Bill Hamilton

William Maxwell Hamilton (2 July 1909 – 14 August 1992) was a New Zealand agricultural scientist and scientific administrator. He joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1936 and led the organisation from 1963 to 1971, turning it into an internationally recognised research institute during his career.

Early life and education Hamilton was born in Warkworth, New Zealand, on 2 July 1909. His parents were William Hamilton and Isabella Hamilton . We went to Warkworth School by dinghy across the Mahurangi River. His school became Warkworth District High School in 1923 (since renamed to Mahurangi College), when he was one of the initial 20 students. After he matriculated in 1927, he took over his ill father's farm. He went to Massey Agricultural College in 1930 for a course on dairy farm management after having built up a herd of Holstein Friesians. Having done well academically, he attended Auckland University College studying towards a medical degree but went back to Massey after a year, from where he graduated with a bachelor in agricultural science. He completed a masters of agricultural science and his thesis dealt with Little Barrier Island: Hauturu, or, Little Barrier : its history, geology and botany He later went back to Massey and completed a doctoral degree in 1943 about the domestic citrus industry.

Career Hamilton joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1936 in the Plant Research Bureau. As part of his work, he undertook the research for his doctorate. He also went to Samoa to provide advice for growers of cocoa. He went to London in 1937 to temporarily replace New Zealand's science liaison officer but due to the WW2, he remained there until 1940. This period proved instrumental for the future of the DSIR due to the many contacts that he made in England. She was a school teacher. They were to have two sons and one daughter. After his retirement, the Hamiltons returned to Warkworth. He died at his home on 14 August 1992, only six weeks after the DSIR had been disestablished. In the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services as director-general of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In 1971, Hamilton was conferred an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Massey University for his economic work on the dairy industry during the war.

Plant & Food Research, a Crown Research Institute, has a Hamilton building at its Mount Albert head office that is named after him. The Hamilton Track on Little Barrier Island is also named to commemorate him.

His daughter later chaired the Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) Supporters' Trust and was awarded a Queen's Service Medal in the 2018 Birthday Honours for her conservation work; mainly on Little Barrier Island.