Alice Mackenzie (author)

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Alice Mackenzie
Born1873 (1873)
Died1963 (aged 89–90)
NationalityNew Zealand
OccupationWriter
Known forAuthor of The Pioneers of Martins Bay

Alice Mackenzie (née McKenzie) (1873–1963)[1] was a New Zealand author and poet known for her book The Pioneers of Martins Bay describing her early life at Martins Bay, New Zealand in the 1870s and 1880s and supposed sighting of the extinct flightless bird the Moa.

Biography

McKenzie was born in 1873 to Daniel and Margaret McKenzie.[2][3] She married Peter Mackenzie in 1902.[4] She died in Dunedin on 5 May 1963, at the age of 90.[4]

Moa sighting

South Island Giant Moa, Dinornis robustus (foreground) and Pachyornis elephantopus (background).

McKenzie grew up in what was then New Zealand's most remote settlement Martins Bay, then part of Otago, but now part of Fiordland National Park. In 1880, as an eight-year-old, Alice had a meeting with a large bird that she believed had been a takahē for many years.[5]

"It was lying on the sand, sunning itself.

"I got nearer and nearer until I sat down on the sand behind it. I remember stroking its back. It had no tail.

"It just lay there, it was quite quiet. So I put my hand underneath it and drew out one of its legs. It took no notice of me. I started to tie the flax around it, I thought I'd tie it up.

"Then it got up and made a harsh, grunting cry and bit at me. And I ran as hard as I could over the sandhills towards the sea. I thought if I went down to the sea it mightn't follow me into the water. I never looked behind, it never came very far with me.

"When I got home and told my father he came to have a look. But the bird was gone when he came. He saw its tracks where it had followed me from the top of the sandhills but it didn't go over them.

"He had a foot-rule in his pocket and he measured the tracks. From the heel to the middle toe was 11 inches."[6]

In Connected 2013 level 2 - I Spy... an article called What Alice Saw by Don Long and illustrated by Adele Jackson looked at Mackenzie's Moa sighting.[7]

The Pioneers of Martins Bay

The Pioneers of Martins Bay is a historical book by Mackenzie, describing her early life at Martins Bay in the 1870s and 1880s.[8]

As a child, McKenzie and her family moved from Hokitika to Jackson Bay in Westland. After that they moved to Jamestown on Lake McKerrow. The township of Jamestown flopped and the McKenzies drifted down to Martins Bay. The hardships and isolation that followed the move are innumerable. Alice grew up in these isolated and lonely conditions and grew up to write the book.

The book was first published in 1947 by the Southland Historical Committee, and a revised edition was self-published in 1952.[9]

Bibliography

  • The Pioneers of Martins Bay
  • Poems

References

  1. ^ "NLA". VIAF. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Mackenzie, Alice, 1873-1963". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  3. ^ Barlow, Maida. "Margaret McKenzie". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Obituary". Press. 6 May 1963. p. 2. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Moa sightings: from the incredible to the... credible?". RNZ. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  6. ^ "[Alice Mackenzie describes seeing a moa and talks about her book, Pioneers of Martins Bay]". www.ngataonga.org.nz. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  7. ^ "What Alice Saw / Connected 2013 level 2 - I Spy... / Connected / Instructional Series / English - ESOL - Literacy Online website - Instructional Series".
  8. ^ "Tale of early Otago". Lake County Mail. No. 22. 22 October 1947. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  9. ^ Hall-Jones, John. Martins Bay. Craig Printing Co. Ltd., Invercargill, New Zealand, 1987.
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