Alexander McKay (geologist)

Alexander McKay (11 April 1841 – 8 July 1917) was a New Zealand geologist. He was born in Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland on 11 April 1841.

McKay reached New Zealand in 1863 where he spent a number of years prospecting for gold. A meeting with Julius von Haast saw a change of direction in which McKay, largely self-taught, undertook geological mapping and fossil collecting expeditions throughout the islands.

McKay harboured dreams of becoming a commercial photographer. In 1867 he was based on an isolated farm in South Canterbury and in 1868 spent several weeks in Christchurch undertaking training with Edward Wheeler & Co. on wet-plate photography.

In 1872 James Hector appointed him to the Geological Survey of New Zealand. During his geological work McKay took numerous photographs. He invented a telephoto lens and also techniques for taking images of geological collections and fossils.

McKay's greatest achievement was to free New Zealand sciences from the strictures of European-based thinking, developing new theories, of worldwide importance, on block faulting in the evolution of mountain systems. The discipline of neotectonics is largely based upon McKay's observations and theories.