Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Christian awarded OBE for services to Pitcairn

Updated at 8:40 pm on 21 October 2008

Pitcairn Islander Betty Christian has been awarded an Order of the British Empire for her 44 years of service to the island during a ceremony in New Zealand.

Pitcairn Islander Betty Christian has been awarded an Order of the British Empire for her 44 years of service to the island during a ceremony in New Zealand.

Ms Christian began her career as a radio operator in 1963 when the island's community links to the outside world relied on Morse code.

Her role was especially important in medical emergencies, when her skills in contact passing ships were a matter of life or death.

Ms Christian says one of the highlights of her career was coordinating the rescue of 29 seamen on their way from New Zealand to Panama in the 1980s.

She says she is humbled to receive an OBE.

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