Bob Brockie

Bob Brockie
MNZM
Born
Robert Ellison Brockie

1932 (age 91–92)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Cartoonist, scientist, columnist,
Years active1975–2018

Robert Ellison Brockie MNZM (born 1932 in Christchurch) is a New Zealand cartoonist, scientist, columnist and graphic artist.

He was an editorial cartoonist for the National Business Review from 1975 to 2018, specialising in political satire. As a biologist he is interested in animal populations, animal behaviour and diseases and did his PhD on hedgehog ecology. He has published material on butterfly evolution in Sicily, behaviour of sparrows, magpies, possums, starlings, mange mites, animal roadkill, flax flowering, cabbage tree disease.

He was science columnist for Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper from 2001 to 2018.[1]

Brockie takes a strong interest in refuting popular myths, like danger to humans from 1080 poison used to control possum populations.[2]

Brockie is a member of New Zealand Skeptics.[3]

In the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brockie was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science and cartooning.[4] He was elected a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand, but resigned his companionship in 2022.[5][6] He has twice been named New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year.[7]

In 2018, Brockie was dropped from the Fairfax Media chain and the National Business Review for his positions on the Treaty of Waitangi and climate change.[8][9][10][11][12]

Selected bibliography

  • I was there!: dramatic first-hand accounts from New Zealand’s history
  • City Nature: Everyday Plants and Animals in NZ Cities
  • Dr Bob's amazing nature facts
  • Brockie’s Bones of contention: a selection of cartoons, ISBN 9780473002008
  • Brockie, Bob; Mayne, Warren (1983). Brockie's bones of contention: a selection of cartoons. Wellington, N.Z.: Fourth Estate Books. ISBN 9780473002008.
  • Don't Vote – It Only Encourages Them
  • Brockie, Bob (2002). Brockie, Bob (ed.). The Penguin eyewitness history of New Zealand: dramatic first-hand accounts from New Zealand's history (Updated and extended ed.). Albany, Auckland: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143018254.
  • A Living New Zealand Forest: A Community of Plants and Animals (1992), David Bateman Publishing, ISBN 186953039X, presents results of a 25-year study of the Orongorongo range near Wellington
  • Brockie, Bob, Brockie: A Memoir in Words, Cartoons & Sketches (2015), Fraser Books, ISBN 9780958232074

References

  1. ^ Brockie, Bob (8 October 2018). "Bob Brockie's last science column". Stuff. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Our daily fix of 1080 poison". The Dominion Post. 18 August 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  3. ^ New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (Inc.) Newsletter Winter 2003
  4. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2013". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  5. ^ "List of Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand". royalsociety.org.nz. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  6. ^ "The disgraceful NZ Royal Society". 16 February 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Bob Brockie | New Zealand Cartoon Archive". www.cartoons.org.nz. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  8. ^ "The Treaty has no place in scientific endeavour". 25 March 2018.
  9. ^ "In defence of science and our Treaty: A reply to Bob Brockie". 27 March 2018.
  10. ^ "An 85 year-old man just bolted into the race for worst column of the year". 6 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Bob Brockie's last science column". 7 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Banished Botanist Dr Bob Brockie Revealed as Antipodean David Bellamy – National Press Club Inc".