Sid Cormack was born in Oamaru, the son of a Scottish father, Alexander Mouat Cormack, and Kati Mamoe mother from Moeraki. He left school at fourteen and worked as a fisherman in the fishing districts of Moeraki, Kaikoura, and Lyttelton. He built a fishing boat, Kia Ora, which was launched in 1939. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s he worked on a bush farm in Southland. He assisted many people in the Māori Land Court and was an amicus curiae for fifteen years in the Māori Land Courts. He was awarded the QSM for services to the Māori.
Biographical sources
- Four Generations from Māoridom: The Memoirs of a South Island Kaumatua and Fisherman. Dunedin, N.Z.: U of Otago P, 1997.
- Syd Cormack as told to Joanna Orwin.
Children's literature
- “Te Ara o Kiwa.” School Journal 3.3 (1993): 58-59.
- As told to Michelle Murphy-Lane by Sid Cormack, Kai Tahu. The legendary story of Kiwa the whale who, when separated from his mate by a peninsula of land, chewed through the land making Rakiura an island. Foveaux Strait’s original name was Te Ara o Kiwa - the Pathway of Kiwa.
Non-fiction
- Four Generations from Māoridom: The Memoirs of a South Island Kaumatua and Fisherman. Dunedin, N.Z.: U of Otago P, 1997.
- Syd Cormack as told to Joanna Orwin.
This publication came out of a series of oral recordings of Syd Cormack recounting stories from his past to Joanna Orwin at his home in Tuatapere in 1991. Orwin then constructed the original material into a published format. Cormack recounts stories of his great-great grandfather William Isaac Haberfield
Other
- "Short Notices." History Now 5.1 (1999): 41.
- "Kaumatua Humble on QSM Award." Southland Times 31 Dec. 1990: 2.
- Focamp, Paul. "Home Fires." Southland Times 21 Oct. 1995: 29.
- "Syd Cormack dies in City." Southland Times 4 Oct. 1995: 9.
Reviews
Four Generations of Māoridom
- McLean, James, Neville Pankhurst. "Books." Evening Post 20 Mar. 1998: 5.
- Smith, Rosemarie, T. J. Hearn. "Books." Otago Daily Times 30 May 1998: 72.
- Tau, Te Maire, Donald Couch. [Book Reviews]. Te Karaka: The Ngai Tahu Magazine 8 (1997): 20+.
- Unger, Pat et al. "Weekend Books." Press 6 June 1998: sup. 10.