“RED ROOSTER”

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28167, 4 January 1957, Page 2

“RED ROOSTER”

Woman Author To Live In Dunedin Known to farmers’ wives throughout the country as “Red Rooster,” the name under which she has written in “Straight Furrow,” the official publication of the Federated Farmers of New Zealand, Mrs John Mackenzie has left her home, Walter Peak station, at Queenstown, and gone to live in Dunedin. Mrs Mackenzie has written three books—“Whakatipu, Queen of the Southern Lakes,” “Sparkling Waters of Whakaipua” and “Whakaipua Pioneers,” as well as many articles in New Zealand journals. She has written under the name “Red Rooster” for about 15 years.

Walter Peak station, the family home of Mr Hugh Mackenzie and his sons, has been Mrs Mackenzie’s home for 25 years since she married the eldest son, Captain John Mackenzie. She was the daughter of the Rev. David Campbell, of Dunedin, and was a trained midwife before her marriage. She also did general and psychiatric nursing training. Mrs Mackenzie’s first book,

“Whakatipu. Queen of the Southern Lakes,” is a running commentary of local history. Her second book, “Sparkling Waters of Whakaipua,” is the history of Whakatipu, and is the first book ever to have been written about Queenstown.

Mrs Mackenzie will find living in Dunedin very different from life on Walter Peak station. There she had her. own launch for going across to Queenstown, and she was hostess in her home to many interesting visitors, who included notable personalities visiting New Zealand.