Robert Ellison Brockie (born 1932 in Christchurch) is a New Zealand

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, scientist,

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

. He was an editorial cartoonist for the ''

National Business Review The ''National Business Review'' (or ''NBR'') is a New Zealand online news publication aimed at the business sector. It has journalists based in Auckland and Wellington. History The ''NBR'' was founded in 1970 by then-23 year old publisher Hen ...

'' 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 Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by drivers of motor vehicles on highways. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how it can be mi ...

, flax flowering, cabbage tree disease. He was science columnist for Wellington's '' Dominion Post'' newspaper from 2001 to 2018. Brockie takes a strong interest in refuting popular myths, like danger to humans from

1080 poison Sodium fluoroacetate is an organofluorine chemistry, organofluorine chemical compound with the formula FCH2CO2Na. This colourless salt (chemistry), salt has a taste similar to that of sodium chloride and is used as a rodenticide. History and pro ...

used to control

possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi ** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban a ...

populations. Brockie is a member of New Zealand Skeptics. In the

2013 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2013 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of t ...

, Brockie was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science and cartooning. He was elected a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand, but resigned his companionship in 2022. He has twice been named New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year. In 2018, Brockie was dropped from the Fairfax Media chain and the

for his positions on the Treaty of Waitangi and climate change.

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'', * * ''Don't Vote – It Only Encourages Them'' * * ''A Living New Zealand Forest: A Community of Plants and Animals'' (1992), David Bateman Publishing, , 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,

References

External links

View cartoons by Bob Brockie
on DigitalNZ. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brockie, Bob 1932 births Living people New Zealand editorial cartoonists New Zealand sceptics New Zealand satirists New Zealand biologists Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit