Person

Mackay, Donald George (1870 - 1958)

CBE

Born
29 June 1870
Yass, New South Wales, Australia
Died
17 September 1958
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Explorer and Philanthropist

Summary

Donald Mackay was acknowledged (in his later years) as the last Australian explorer. He inherited considerable financial resources on the death of his father in 1890, and put this to good use in financing and participating in expeditions in the Northern Territory and Central Australia. In 1926 and 1928 his first Australian explorations were to the Petermann Ranges and Arnhem Land, both led by surgeon and anthropologist Herbert Basedow. These were notable for the good relations they established with the local Indigenous people. Between 1930 and 1937 Mackay financed and supervised four aerial surveys of remote areas of Central Australia. This resulted in more useful maps than had previously existed, and added considerably to existing knowledge of these areas. The newly-discovered Lake Mackay was named in his honour. Naturalist and broadcaster P. Crosbie Morrison participated in the first of these surveys. Mackay attracted some controversy because of his remarks about harsh treatment meted put to Indigenous people.

Details

Chronology

1899 - 1900
Life event - Cycled round Australia (17,700 km in 240 days)
1926
Career event - Financed and participated in expedition to Petermann Ranges, Northern Territory
1928
Career event - Financed and participated in expedition to Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
1930 - 1937
Career event - Supervised four aerial surveys of Central Australia
1934
Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
1937
Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1980
Career event - Led expedition to explore headwaters of Purari River, Papua New Guinea

Related People

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Donald George Mackay - Records, 1900 - 1940; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Clune, Frank, Last of the Australian explorers: the story of Donald Mackay (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1942), 303 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Carment, David, 'Mackay, Donald George (1870-1958), explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 289-290. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100284b.htm. Details

Resources

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

EOAS ID: biogs/P000597b.htm

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