Mina McKenzie

Early life, family and education McKenzie was born in Palmerston North on 2 February 1930. She was educated at Wanganui Girls' College, and went on to study zoology, geology and chemistry at the University of Otago between 1948 and 1950. In 1965, she married Bruce Alan McKenzie, and they had four children together. In addition to her work at the Manawatū Museum, she was involved in national museum movements, committees and projects, until she retired in 1994.

McKenzie was a member of the Te Maori committee. She was instrumental in having the North American tour extended to the Field Museum in Chicago.

McKenzie was a mentor to many young people who went on to become prominent museum and heritage professionals and scholars in New Zealand. Throughout the 1980s, she utilised funding from government work schemes to employ students and Māori and train them in museum practice. McKenzie was instrumental in the establishment of a museum studies programme at Massey University, where she was an honorary associate professor from 1990 until her death in 1997. and she received the Palmerston North Civic Honour Award in 1993. In 1998, she was posthumously awarded the Massey University Medal for contributions to the university's museum studies programme and strengthening of the museum sector in New Zealand. In 2018, the Mina McKenzie Award was introduced at the New Zealand Museum Awards, recognising individual achievements in the museum sector.