Ruth Dallas

Dallas was born in Invercargill, the daughter of Frank and Minnie Mumford.

She became blind in one eye at 15, then spent three years at the Southland Technical College and was engaged at 19.

But her fiancé broke off the engagement to serve in Great Britain during World War II.

Following the war, in 1946, her first published poem, "Morning Mountains" appeared in The Southland Times.

In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature.