David Dufty

David Dufty restores an overlooked Australian innovator to public view in Radio Girl. The biography follows Florence Violet McKenzie, widely known as Mrs Mac, from her early fascination with electrical systems to qualifications in electrical engineering, ownership of the Wireless Shop, and campaigns for women's technical education. In wartime she founded the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, training thousands in Morse code and helping create the conditions for the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service. Allen & Unwin published Radio Girl in 2020. Dufty builds the story from archival material and interviews, while keeping attention on the institutional resistance McKenzie had to negotiate throughout her career. He presents radio not as a solitary hobby but as a network linking shops, clubs, classrooms, military communication, and new opportunities for women. His account also distinguishes documented achievements from later anecdotes surrounding Mrs Mac. The book's strongest contribution is to show how one teacher and engineer widened a technical pathway for many others while rarely receiving comparable recognition herself.