AustLit

Ruth McKenzie was born Molly Lennon at Eringa Station and grew up at Blood's Creek, north-east of Oodnadatta, in far north South Australia. McKenzie's father was Irish and her mother was Antakarinja. McKenzie witnessed her Aboriginal stepfather kill her mother as part of a traditional punishment. Following this, McKenzie was taken by missionaries, renamed Ruth McKenzie and raised in the Colebrook Children's Home in Quorn. She was one of the first twelve Aboriginal children at the Home. McKenzie later married an Adnyamathanha man and had thirteen children. She was widowed, became a grandmother and has lived in Oodnadatta, Coober Pedy, and Port Augusta.