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 entries
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. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mackay-donald-george-7377. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1239899. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/91626253. Details
- 'Mackay, Donald (1870-1958)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-480095. Details
McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 8 August 2024
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education