Anna Hayes was born in the North Island of New Zealand in 1915 and died in her 92nd year. Raised on a small farm along the Waitaki River near Oamaru, she was the eldest of three children and had to leave high school early. Sadly, both her brother and her mother died early from tuberculosis. Her father had a keen academic mind, she did also despite little schooling. After her marriage to Alpheus two of her passions were reading and gardening, so the flower garden around the Hayes homestead was wonderful. She raised four children.
Her first literary work was a contribution to “The Advance Guard”. Produced by the Otago Daily Times this recorded the history of different pioneers, with hers, being the amazingly eventful life of Dr Joseh Crocombe, her great grandfather, the first Dr in the South Island of NZ. He had come out with the early whalers and stayed on to help look after the new settlers.
Her major work, From the Toss of a Coin, which has been sold throughout the country, was the story of the original Alpheus Hayes, a Canadian studying in Scotland. On the Glasgow wharf he flipped a coin to decide whether to return to Nova Scotia or sail for NZ. His knowledge of the timber industry paved the way for him and his family to do so very well in NZ. The book is a comprehensive account of life in early rural NZ but also records the work she and her husband did with MRA in several countries.
