He moved from Victoria to the Otago region in 1870 to manage the Deepdell sheep station on an invitation by Donald McLean and Matthew Holmes.
[1] He first stood for the House of Representatives in the 1881 election in the Mount Ida electorate and was only narrowly beaten by the incumbent, Cecil de Lautour.
[3] However Mackenzie would later leave the Stout-Vogelites in protest of new tariffs and the notion of female enfranchisement, joining the opposition conservative MPs.
He then represented the multi-member City of Dunedin electorate from 1896 to 1899 when he was defeated.
[2] Mackenzie died at his home in Dunedin on 15 December 1901, and was buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery.