Notable Residents
Brothers Neville and Dave Hiscock were both internationally famous motorcycle racers who lived in Stokes Valley. Dave Hiscock dominated the New Zealand racing scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, winning 40 consecutive races. He won the New Zealand Castrol Six Hour race five times and was placed five times in the Australian Castrol Six Hour Race in the 1970s and 1980s. His brother Neville Hiscock won the Australian Castrol Six Hour Race in 1981, and teamed with his brother to win the New Zealand Castrol Six Hour Race in 1982. Neville was killed in February 1983 while racing in Killarney, near Cape Town in South Africa. Dave retired from competitive racing shortly after this, and now lives in Australia. A recent mural that shows many historical elements of Stokes Valley life has been completed honouring the Hiscock brothers and mentioning how they both "dominated motorcycle racing in the 1970s". It was instigated and commissioned by local resident Dennis O'Grady and is painted on the wall of his business. It is located in the car park facing the current New World supermarket in the Scot Court Shopping mall in Oates St. The mural shows a picture of Neville Hiscock racing one of his bikes.
Notable artist Guy Ngan has been a resident of Stokes Valley for over 50 years. Ngan, born to Chinese parents in 1926, has produced a range of work across a large range of media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, design, and architecture. One of his sculptures is located at the entrance to Stokes Valley and has become the defacto symbol of Stokes Valley since about 1980 appearing on such things as the logo of local news papers and school reports etc. He has been commissioned to design and build another large sculpture for the Stokes Valley shopping centre; this project is currently awaiting funding. Ngan was director of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1986. In 2006 a major retrospective of his work was held at the Wellington City Art Gallery. Another Sculpture that was designed by Guy Ngan has recently been erected in the Scott Court shopping mall on the side facing Stokes Valley Road.
Darcy Nicholas, "one of the best known of early contemporary Maori artists", also resides in Stokes Valley with his wife Anne.
Several notable sportspeople call Stokes Valley their home. These include three representative association footballers: Craig Henderson, who plays professionally for Mjällby AIF in Sweden; New Zealand international Cole Peverley; and Dan Keat, who has played with Dartmouth College and L.A Galaxy in the United States. All three have represented New Zealand at age-group level, with Peverley playing once for the national team (the All Whites) in 2008. Craig Bradshaw, New Zealand international basketball player, also grew up in Stokes Valley. Bradshaw represented the country as a member of the Tall Blacks during the 2004 Summer Olympics campaign and the 2006 FIBA World Championships. Also Wellington Lion & Hurricane, Brad Shields grew up in Stokes Valley
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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or residents:
“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)
“In most nineteenth-century cities, both large and small, more than 50 percent—and often up to 75 percent—of the residents in any given year were no longer there ten years later. People born in the twentieth century are much more likely to live near their birthplace than were people born in the nineteenth century.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)