Portrait of
MacKenzie in Cairo. MacKenzie, Clutha. Scrapbooks, 1917 - 1947. [online] Auckland
War Memorial Museum Library. Available at: <http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C49530>
[Accessed 31 August 2015]
To Note: Clutha Mackenzie, who became activist for blind, was
also the author of a novel The Tale of a Trooper Novel (1921) is a first-hand
account in novel form of World War I.
Available as an ebook from: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26548
A true New Zealander born in Balclutha,
The seventh
youngest son
Of Thomas
Mackenzie and Ida Nantes -
The boy given
name of his
Birthplace -
Clutha Nantes Mackenzie.
A lover of the
outdoor life, his education
Was made at Otago
And Waitaki Boys
High Schools - days
Of youth spent about
The Southern
waters of New Zealand.
In a hankering to
join navy, Clutha
Had spent time
On a defence
ship, Lady Roberts,
And another vessel
-
The lighthouse
steamer Hinemoa.
Clutha though took
another route,
As an agricultural
cadet;
On a Experimental
Farm of Weraroa -
To move to the Ruakura
Farm of
Instruction, Waikato region.
Life seemed to be
set in working
On farms - with time
As labourer
loading the ships
In Wellington,
over
Ten weeks during a waterfront strike.
The following
year Clutha worked
On a sheep farm -
When outbreak of
war saw an eager
Clutha to sign
into
Wellington
Mounted Rifles Regiment.
At the age of 17,
in 1912, Clutha
had seen his
father,
Thomas Mackenzie,
Scottish born
Move from politician,
To be prime
minister of New Zealand.
While no one realised
his identity,
As son of the
eighteen
Prime minster of
New Zealand,
Clutha was posted
out
To Egypt, with
the Rifles Regiment.
Trooper Mackenzie
in Gallipoli,
Took part in
final
Attempts to take
the peninsula,
In August offensive
-
Which was known
as Sari Bair.
A dominating
ridge of ground,
On peninsula
heights -
Formation was drawn up of a plan;
With landings on
6 August
At Suvla Bay,
alongside attacks.
Land progress in
the north would
Take the high
ground,
To join up with
the other troops -
At Suvla Bay
Trooper
Clutha Mackenzie
took his place.
It was at this
stage when fate
Took a blow - a British
Shell fell short
to burst too close.
The act of concussion,
Forced out both
Cluthe's eyes.
Ten days after
the campaign's
Start, young
Mackenzie
Arrived in
Alexandria's Victoria
College Hospital,
amid
A ward of many injured men.
The soldier made
no attempt
To give his
identity,
Until a High
Commissioner
Cable arrived, to
ask
About well being
of C.Mackenzie.
The realisation
was then made -
He was the son
Of New Zealand’s
representative
In London - Soon
Arrangements sent
him to England.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. High Commissioner's Son - Blinded at the Dardanelles. The Daily Telegraph, [online]
28
August. P.7. Col 6. Available
at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11815052/Daily-Telegraph-August-30-1915.html
[Accessed: 30 August 2015].
Source: File:
Story: Mackenzie, Clutha Nantes [online] Available at:
<http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4m17/mackenzie-clutha-nantes>
[Accessed: 30 August 2015]
Source: File: Battle of Sari Bair From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online] Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sari_Bair> [Accessed: 30 August
2015]
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago -
Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 30 August 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1NewZealand
No comments:
Post a Comment