Mary Duff grew up in Duntroon unknowingly surrounded by the fossils which are now the subject of her first children’s book.

She began putting together A Discovery in the Rocks about six years ago on a “very, very informal commission”, she says.

While she was working for a Christchurch-based retail software company, Duntroon’s Vanished World Centre was looking at the software and mentioned how hard it was to find children’s books about fossils.

“So I said, ‘well, I've got this little story I wrote for my nephew, just like a little DIY homemade thing’, and they're like, ‘oh, you should finish it off’.”

The self-published book is a dramatised, non-fiction, children’s picture book for ages five to nine, about a rare ancient whale fossil found near Tokarahi, in the Waitaki Valley.

Mary initially wrote the story for her young nephew, who is growing up on the family farm, which her brother now runs. 

She remembers her father talking to visitors about the 30-million-year-old limestone outcrops on the farm.

“I remember they were really proud of this fact, and they'd been there all along, but we just didn't realise the treasure that it was.”

Palaeontologist Emeritus Professor Ewan Fordyce, who had a huge interest in the area, helped make the locals aware of what lay on their doorsteps.

Ewan was then instrumental in the discovery of several marine fossils in the Waitaki Valley and the development of the Vanished World Centre, as well as the Vanished World Fossil Trail. 

The news in early 2022 that Ewan was retiring from Otago University due to illness was the “trigger to hurry up and get it presentable to share with other people”, Mary says. 

Ewan died in November 2023.

Mary says gathering the information and the illustrations for her book has been a “ridiculously involved” process. Producing the text and technical details in the book alone has taken her four years of solid research.

“I had to really fully understand the details, to be able to re-explain it in a way that little kids can understand straight away. 

“And then the illustrations themselves are another project.”

The book is illustrated with a compilation of four donated watercolours by Duntroon artist Burns Pollock, and children from Duntroon School.

Two years ago, Mary was awarded a grant from the Waitaki District Council Creative Communities Scheme to run children’s workshops for more book illustrations, which were co-ordinated by Ōamaru-based artist Sarka Cibulcova. 

Ōamaru-based artist Sarka Cibulcova (left) and Mary. Photo: Supplied

“And then it's been a whole 12 months of a lot of work by Sarka and another graphic designer in Christchurch to get it ready for printers,” Mary says.

The book is now in its final stages of being printed and perfected, and will be officially launched in Duntroon on October 25. There will be further launches at Tūranga Library in Christchurch, Otago Museum, and Mary is planning to speak at Ōamaru Library, with a date still to be confirmed.

Mary says producing the book has been “a really steep learning curve”, but she thinks she’s now addicted.

“I've got all these words swirling around with me and I can't wait to get rid of this one to work on the next one.”

While the next book won’t necessarily be for children, she is keen on non-fiction. 

The majority of Mary’s career has been as a food technologist working in food manufacturing.

“But deep down I've realised that actually I'm a creative person, and I just love science. So I'm just blending those two together to create accessible science.” 

While she has some ideas in mind for the next project, she is reluctant to share more details, to avoid people asking for the next five years, ‘how’s your book going?’, she says.

A Discovery in the Rocks will be available in major bookstores, but pre-orders are open now, which is helpful when deciding how many copies to print, she says.

One dollar from each book sold will go to Otago Rural Support Trust, in memory of the owner of the farm where the main fossil was found in 1994, who taught Mary and her brother small-bore target shooting when they were teenagers.