The Kaipara Konnection - Kaipara Konnection - Dargaville.BIZ

Faith is taking the first step, even when
you don’t see the whole staircase. -- Martin Luther King Jr.
4 March 1855 Legendary sheep rustler James Mackenzie caught
In 1855 James Mackenzie became one of New Zealand’s most enduring folk heroes. On 4 March he was caught in a
pass in the upper Waitaki River basin with 1000 sheep that had gone missing from the Levels station, north of Timaru.
While Mackenzie was in possession of the sheep, there were tracks belonging to several other men. He denied the
theft, claiming that he had been hired by John Mossman to drive the sheep to Otago. Mackenzie escaped and walked
160 km to Lyttelton, where he was recaptured on 15 March. In April he was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury and
sentenced to five years’ hard labour.
Mackenzie escaped from his road gang in May and again in June 1855, for only a few days each time. He was placed in
irons and carefully watched. In September a new resident magistrate at Christchurch investigated Mackenzie’s case and
found flaws in both the police inquiry and the trial. As a result Mackenzie was pardoned in January 1856. He probably
returned to Australia, but nothing certain is known of his later life. He left his mark on the South Island high country,
though. The significance of the pass where he was discovered with the sheep, and of the pastoral country it led to, were
quickly appreciated by pastoralists. The region was subsequently dubbed the Mackenzie Country.
A later biographer, Cathy Marr, says that ‘Mackenzie’s exploits won him the admiration of those on the margins
of society’. He was a hero to many would-be farmers of small means. Those who resented the power of wealthy
landowners also identified with him, and his rebellious spirit inspired many who did not
fit easily into genteel Canterbury society. His pardon won popular sympathy in a frontier
society still engaged in establishing its social and political norms. His life took on legendary
proportions. His almost superhuman strength and a ‘fabulous’ dog saw him held up as
shepherd, drover and thief extraordinaire.
Image: notice of reward for capture of James McKenzie in the Lyttelton Times
8 March 1929 First ‘talkie’ draws huge crowds in Wellington
Moviegoers flocked to see Frank Borzage’s Street angel, a silent picture with a recorded musical soundtrack, at
Wellington’s Paramount Theatre. There were also five ‘talkie shorts’, including an interview with the King of Spain. Silent
movies were usually accompanied by live music, so a recorded soundtrack was a real novelty.
Street angel told the story of a ‘spirited young woman’, Angela (Janet Gaynor). Down on her luck and living on the
streets, she joined a travelling carnival, where she met a vagabond painter, Gino (Charles Farrell). Gaynor won the Best
Actress Oscar for her performance.
The first feature-length movie originally presented as a talkie was The jazz singer,
released in the United States in October 1927. Not all were convinced by the new
technology. United Artists president Joseph Schenck asserted in 1928 that the new talkies
were just a passing fad, but by the following year virtually every American film had a
recorded soundtrack. The first New Zealand-made talkie screened in January 1930 and
by the early 1930s they were a global phenomenon.
Image: Janet Gaynor in a scene from Street angel (IMDB)
Reference: New Zealand History Online