Unique portrait of farming life on Banks Peninsula

A significant new book of photographs published by Akaroa Museum documents rural life on Banks Peninsula during the 1950s.

Ninety-two-year-old Donald McKay was born on a farm in Le Bons Bay, where he grew up steeped in the rhythms of farming life.

He attended high school in Christchurch before returning to work on the family farm and other farms around the district throughout the 1950s.

Donald had discovered a passion for photography whilst at high school and was never without his camera at this time.

He documented what was around him; his parents, the family farm, dances and social life, and the farm work he did around the district to supplement his photographic income.

William Gebbie with his dogs Don and Dick, 29 April 1950. Photograph by Donald J. McKay, collection of Akaroa Museum.

Although he moved away from Le Bons bay to Christchurch where he continued his career in photography, these early images remain a remarkable record of his community and rural life on Banks Peninsula.

In 2017, Donald gave the museum more than 40,000 negatives – mostly black and white, and taken during 1950s and 1960s.

Museum Collections Manager Daniel Smith began digitising the images and knew immediately that this was an important body of work.

“Donald’s approach was fresh and creative, his gaze direct. The photographs capture his community and rural life at that time - he knew many of his subjects and the personal connection is obvious in his images.”

Mr Smith developed an exhibition and a catalogue in 2018 and now, with the support of The Friends of Akaroa Museum, a more substantial tribute to Donald’s early work has been produced: A Rural Life in Black and White.

“The museum is privileged to have been entrusted with Donald’s negatives and proud to have been able to publish this selection of 77 enduringly evocative photographs," says Museum Director Lynda Wallace. 

Copies of A Rural Life in Black and White are available at Akaroa Museum and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

The museum is also showing an exhibition of Donald McKay’s photographs from 6 September 2025 through to February 2026.

Main image: Barbara Mason from Okains Bay, winner of ‘Junior Calf’ and ‘Best Dairy Type’ categories, School Agricultural Clubs annual parade and prize-giving, 9 December 1955. Photograph by Donald J. McKay, collection of Akaroa Museum.