Irwin Lloyd Esler (born 1957) is a New Zealand

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

teacher, columnist, and former

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

City Councillor. After studying botany at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

and education at

Otago Polytechnic Otago Polytechnic is a public Education in New Zealand#Tertiary education, New Zealand tertiary education institute, centred in Dunedin with additional campuses in Cromwell, New Zealand, Cromwell and Auckland. Otago Polytechnic provides career-f ...

, Esler worked at the

Otago Museum Otago (, ; ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government region. Its po ...

from 1978 to 1986. He then taught at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery from 1991 to 2001. Esler unsuccessfully ran for Invercargill City Council in 1992, garnering only 3,641 votes and coming 26th. He made it onto the council in 2010 and rose up the ranks with each subsequent election, being the second highest polling councillor in 2016. Esler did not run for re-election in 2019, instead running for the Environment Southland council and topping the poll. He did not run for re-election in 2022. Esler has written a weekly history

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

for ''

The Southland Times ''The Southland Times'' is the regional daily paper for Southland, including Invercargill, and neighbouring parts of Otago, in New Zealand. It is now owned by media business Stuff Ltd, formerly the New Zealand division of Fairfax Media. His ...

'' since 2002. Esler was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The King's Service Medal (created as the Queen's Service Medal in 1975 and renamed in 2024) is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or app ...

in the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. t ...

for services to the community.

References

1957 births Living people Invercargill City Councillors Southland regional councillors New Zealand educators New Zealand columnists Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal {{NewZealand-historian-stub