Person
Forbes Mackay, Hugh Rose (1871 - 1940)
- Born
- 7 October 1871
Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland - Died
- 19 October 1940
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Electrical engineer
Summary
Hugh Forbes Mackay, MIEAust, had a distinguished career as the electrical engineer and general manager of Sydney's electricity undertakings from 1908 until he retired in 1939. When he was appointed, from 139 applicants from all over the world, the Sydney City Council electricity department was supplying 1,600 consumers. At the time of his retirement, as the General Manager, Sydney County Council, this had increased to 250,000 as well as 30,000 consumers supplied by other local governing authorities with electricity bought in bulk.
He was one of the best-known electrical engineers in Australia, and his significant contribution to engineering was acknowledged when he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1936.
Details
His brother, Alister Forbes Mackay (1878 - 1914), was expedition doctor on the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909, led by Ernest Shackleton, and was a member of the ill-fated Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1914.
Chronology
- c. 1889 - c. 1891
- Education - Engineering course, Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh
- c. 1891 - c. 1893
- Career position - Apprenticeship, Gourlay Bros, Dundee. [Marine engineers]
- c. 1893 - c. 1895
- Career position - Working electrical engineering experience in the engine-rooms of steamers, P and O Company. [Making voyages to India, China and Japan]
- c. 1895
- Career position - Engineer, Brush Electrical Engineering Company
- 1895 - 1897
- Career position - Shift engineer, Electric power station, Edinburgh Municipal Council
- 1897 - 1899
- Career position - Engineer, on staff of Professor Alexander Kennedy, Consulting engineers [Consultants to Edinburgh Municipal Council, and for the erection of other electrical plants]
- 1899 - 1901
- Career position - Chief Assistant to the City Electrical Engineer, Edinburgh Municipal Council
- 1901 - c. 1905
- Career position - Electrical engineer, Battersea Municipal Council, London
- 1905 - 1907
- Life event - Travelled to warmer climates, including the West Indies, for health reasons
- 1907 - 1908
- Career position - Resident electrical engineer, Metropolitan District, Great Western Railway
- 1908
- Life event - Moved to Sydney, Australia, to take up appointment with Electricity Department, Sydney City Council
- 1908
- Career event - Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales
- 1908 - 1935
- Career position - City Electrical Engineer, Electricity Department, Sydney City Council
- 1910 - 1911
- Career position - President, Electrical Association of New South Wales
- 1914
- Career event - Member, Electrical Association of Australia [from Electrical Association of New South Wales]
- 1914
- Career event - Member, Engineering Association of New South Wales
- 1914 - 1915
- Career position - NSW Councillor, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1919
- Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1921
- Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1935 - 1939
- Career position - General manager, Sydney County Council
- 1936
- Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering. Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1939
- Life event - Retired
- 1939 - 1940
- Career position - Chief Censor of Communications, New South Wales
- 1939 - 1940
- Career position - Consulting electrical engineer
- 1940
- Life event - Cremated, Northern Suburbs Crematorium
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Anderson, Gordon F., Fifty years of electricity supply : the story of Sydney's electricity undertaking (Sydney: Sydney County Council, 1955), 257 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Dunstan, David, 'Chapter 14: Electricity supply in the Sydney region' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 271-284. 'The Sydney Municipal System' pp.277-281, incl. photo Hugh Forbes Mackay. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Memoirs', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 12 (Dec 1940) (1940), 332-335. 'Hugh Rose Forbes Mackay, MIEAust', p.335. Details
- Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Presidential address', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of New South Wales (1910-1911), 5-16. Details
- Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Notes on some of the motors connected to the City Council Electricity Supply mains', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of New South Wales (1911-1912), 43-44. Details
- Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Melbourne City Council's electrical supply undertaking', Commonwealth Engineer, 2 (2) (1914), 84-96. Details
- Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'A short description of the electric supply undertaking of the Sydney City Council', Journal and abstract of proceedings of the Sydney University Engineering Society, 19 (1914), 32A-32K, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/SUES/article/view/2221. Details
- Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Impressions of electric supply abroad', Commonwealth Engineer, 5 (10) (1918), 284-286. Details
- Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Seventeenth Annual Report [1936]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (1937), 145-154. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1936 award) to Mr H R Forbes Mackay, MIEAust, Sydney Division', p.146. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 6 September 2023, Last modified: 3 October 2023