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 Corporate Bodies

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

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