Heather Nicholson

Heather Margaret Halcrow Nicholson (née Halcrow, 19 June 1931 – 9 July 2019) was a New Zealand geologist and writer. Her book, The Loving Stitch: a History of Knitting and Spinning in New Zealand, was judged best non-fiction book at the 1999 Montana Book Awards.

Biography Nicholson was born Heather Margaret Halcrow in Hamilton on 19 June 1931, the daughter of Amy and Tom Halcrow, and was raised at Galatea. After studying physical geography at high school, she enrolled at Auckland University College in 1949, where she decided to study geology. She was the first woman whose thesis, titled Geology of Waiheke Island and supervised by Arthur Lillie, was primarily based on fieldwork and the first woman in New Zealand to conduct a major geological mapping project. She graduated MSc with second-class honours in 1954. The following year, she married Ian Nicholson, and the couple went on to have twin daughters.

Nicholson died in Orewa on 9 July 2019.