Donald George Mackay
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(29 June 187017 September 1958) was an Australian outdoorsman, long-distance cyclist, and explorer who conducted several expeditions to the remotest areas of the Australian continent.
Early life
Donald George Mackay was born on 29 June 1870 at
Yass, New South Wales
Yass ()
is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Council. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" (or "Yharr"), said to mean 'running water'.
Yass is located 280 km s ...
, son of Alexander Mackay, owner of Wallendbeen station, and his wife Annie. Mackay was educated at Wallendbeen Public School and at Oaklands School, Mittagong. After a brief engineering apprenticeship he worked for his father until the latter's death in 1890. During 1890-99 Mackay travelled extensively abroad, and later prospected for gold in western New South Wales.
Cycling expedition around Australia
In July 1899 Mackay belatedly joined brothers Alex and Frank White to become the first men to travel around the continent of Australia on a bicycle. Mackay's 24-in. frame, 29 lb. ''DUX'' bicycle was especially strengthened to carry Mackay's weight plus his gear, which included two water cans, a set of tools and bicycle parts, a camera, waterproof rain cloak, diary, food bag, and revolver.
Though Frank White had to abandon the attempt due to mechanical problems, Alex White and Donald Mackay successfully completed the circuit of the Australian continent and returned to Brisbane in March 1900. Though he came in third behind Alex White and
Arthur Richardson, he set a record-breaking time of 240 days after an 11,500-mile (17,703 km) ride. On 27 June, Mackay was given a silver presentation trophy valued at 26 guineas (£27 6s) by the Dunlop Tyre Company "in recognition of his meritorious cycle ride around Australia."
Later explorations
Mackay married Amy Isabel Little on 16 April 1902 at
Homebush
Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...
, Sydney. Their home at
Port Hacking
Port Hacking Estuary ( Aboriginal Tharawal language: ''Deeban''), an open youthful tide dominated, drowned valley estuary, is located in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia approximately south of Sydney central business district. Port ...
was on an estuary, facilitating the couple's love of fishing and sailing. Mackay led and financed an expedition to Papua in 1908 to investigate the headwaters of the Purari River. During the following decade he sailed a yacht in the South Pacific, visiting
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
.
In 1926 Mackay financed and accompanied the first of several expeditions to Australia's Northern Territory. During the first expedition, which utilized camel transport, Mackay accompanied anthropologist Dr Herbert Basedow to the
Petermann Ranges. In 1928 they explored
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
.
Aerial survey 1930
![Flights by Frank Neale](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Flights_by_Frank_Neale.jpg)
Beginning in 1930, Mackay supervised several aerial survey expeditions to Central Australia. The 1930 expedition surveyed the south-western corner of the Northern Territory. Mackay utilised two
ANEC III
The ANEC III was a 1920s British six-seat passenger and mail carrier aircraft built by Air Navigation and Engineering Company Limited at Addlestone, Surrey.
History
Following a requirement for a passenger and mail carrier for the Australian co ...
aircraft for the survey, piloted by Captain
Frank Neale
Frank Neale, AFC (14 September 1895 – 24 December 1979) was a British-born Australian aviator. Born in England, he served in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force during the First World War, then moved to Australia in the mid-1920s to ...
and Captain H. B. Hussey, with Commander Harry T. Bennett as the navigator and surveyor. The team employed Bob Buck, a well known bushman of Central Australia, to establish a base in the Ehrenberg Range west of
Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
. Buck set out with a camel team two months prior to the survey party to take fuel and supplies to the base known as Ilbilba (also spelt Ilbpilla). Using the base as the hub of an imaginary wheel, Commander Bennett had the aircraft fly directly outbound for 250 miles, turn to fly the short side of a triangle, then fly directly inbound to the base making another 250-mile spoke of the wheel. The party made 15 survey flights over 24 days covering an area of 67,000 square miles, mapping and correcting the dimensions of
Lake Amadeus
Lake Amadeus (together with Lake Neale, Pitjantjatjara: ''Pantu'' ("salt lakes")) is a large salt lake in the southwest corner of Northern Territory of Australia, about north of Uluru. The smaller Lake Neale is adjacent to the northwest. It ...
and finding a previously unknown to them
Lake Mackay
Lake Mackay, known as Wilkinkarra to the Indigenous Pintupi people, is the largest of hundreds of ephemeral salt lakes scattered throughout the Pilbara and northern parts of the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia and the Norther ...
,
() the second largest lake in Australia. Lake Anec to the west-north-west of
Lake Hopkins was named after the aircraft type. The expedition finished at
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
on 28 June 1930.
Aerial survey 1933
The second series of surveys began from Sydney 20 May 1933 using a new aircraft, the
Percival Gull
The Percival Gull was a British single-engined monoplane, first flown in 1932. It was successful as a fast company transport, racing aircraft and long-range record breaker. It was developed into the Vega Gull and the Proctor.
Design and devel ...
bought by Donald Mackay especially for the flights. It was a fast low winged monoplane designed by Australian
Edgar Percival
Edgar Wikner Percival (23 February 1897 – 21 January 1984) was a noted Australian aircraft designer and pilot whose aircraft were distinguished by speed and grace. Percival went on to set up the Percival Aircraft Company, a British aircraft ...
, but built in England. Once again Bob Buck with 50 camels set out early to Docker Creek (now
Docker River
Kaltukatjara , also known as Docker River, is a remote Indigenous Australian community in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is southwest of Alice Springs, west of the Stuart Highway, near the Western Australia and Northern Territory bord ...
) in the
Petermann Ranges, which was to be the new base early in the series. A backup aircraft was a
Gipsy Moth
The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.
Development
The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...
piloted by Clive James Robertson with wireless operator Kingsley Love as crew. In early July, there was great concern at the Docker Creek base when Mackay and Neale in the Percival Gull failed to return from a flight to Lake Anec. The backup Gipsy Moth with Robertson and Bennett aboard began a search and discovered the missing aircraft bogged on the edge of the salt lake. The rescue crew were guided to a safe landing place by signals from the men on the ground, and they needed to remain overnight as all four men were required to manoeuvre the bogged aircraft to firm ground. This was done the next day, and both aircraft returned safely to base. As flights were completed, the main base was moved to Roy Hill then Fitzroy Crossing, enabling a larger area of Western Australia to be surveyed. The survey took seven weeks, and finished when the members returned to Sydney in mid-July 1933. An "S" shaped series of salt lakes found on this survey were named
Percival Lakes
The Percival Lakes form a string of "S" shaped ephemeral salt lakes in the north of Western Australia. They lie at the southern region of the Great Sandy Desert and east of Karlamilyi National Park. They stretch in an east-west direction for ...
(), after the aircraft designer.
Aerial survey 1935
The third in the series of Mackay aerial survey flights departed Sydney 17 June 1935. Two aircraft were employed, the main one being a
Monospar
The General Aircraft Monospar was a 1930s British family of touring and utility aircraft built by General Aircraft Ltd (GAL).
Design and development
In 1929, the Monospar Company Ltd was formed to pursue new techniques of designing cantilever ...
piloted by Frank Neale, and the backup being a
Puss Moth owned and piloted by B.G.M. Shepherd, with Captain Wilkinson as radio operator. The survey area was to the north of the transcontinental railway line across the
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...
. The first base used was Cook, followed in turn by Forrest, Rawlinna and Laverton in Western Australia. Finally, a return to
Oodnadatta
Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road ...
was needed to cover a previously missed area. The party returned to Sydney 22 July 1935 after a successful expedition during which many new lakes and mountains were mapped. Lake Jubilee north-east of Rawlinna being one such lake, named for the jubilee of
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
.
Aerial survey 1937
The fourth and last aerial survey by Donald Mackay used a
de Havilland Dragonfly
The de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly is a 1930s British twin-engined luxury touring biplane built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield Aerodrome.
Development
The Dragonfly shares a clear family resemblance with the Dragon Rapide, but ...
as the primary aircraft and a Puss Moth owned and flown by J.Pollock. Frank Neale was chief pilot, Commander H.T.Bennett was navigator and E.B.Ferguson radio operator. They departed Mascot aerodrome (Sydney) on 19 July 1937 and made their way via various stops en route to
Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...
to fill in some gaps in the earlier work of 1933 and 1935. A chain of lakes north of
Mount Conner
Mount Conner, also known as Atila, Artilla, or Fool-uru, is a mountain located in the southwest corner of the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Lake Amadeus, in the locality of Petermann. It lies within the Curtin Springs cattle ...
in the Northern Territory was seen, and they proved to be an extension of the string of lakes which included
Lake Hopkins,
Lake Neale and
Lake Amadeus
Lake Amadeus (together with Lake Neale, Pitjantjatjara: ''Pantu'' ("salt lakes")) is a large salt lake in the southwest corner of Northern Territory of Australia, about north of Uluru. The smaller Lake Neale is adjacent to the northwest. It ...
. Once completed they flew to Tanami north-west of Alice Springs to start the main work of surveying a large portion of the north-west of Western Australia. Several bases were used in the following weeks including Roy Hill, Fitzroy Crossing, Wave Hill, and Tennant Creek. Most of the flights resulted in finding previously unmapped salt lakes and some low ranges of hills. These surveys produced far more useful maps than had previously existed, and they were donated to the Commonwealth government and to the
Mitchell Library
The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland.
History
The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...
in Sydney by Mackay.
Later career
Mackay was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(OBE) in 1934 and raised to Commander level (CBE) in 1937. He received recognition from the Australian public as a pioneering Australian explorer, whose travels significantly increased man's knowledge of remote areas.
Mackay died on 17 September 1958 in Sutherland Shire Hospital near Sydney. A widower, he had no children.
[Carment, pp. 289-290]
References
*Basedow, H., ''Knights of the Boomerang'' Sydney: The Endeavour Press, 1st ed. (1935)
*Carment, David,
Mackay, Donald George (1870 - 1958)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press (1986)
*Clune, Frank P., ''Last of the Australian explorers: The story of Donald Mackay'', 1st ed. Sydney: Angus & Robertson Ltd. (1942)
*Corke, David,
', 22 March 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, Donald George
1870 births
1958 deaths
Australian male cyclists
Male touring cyclists
Ultra-distance cyclists
Explorers of Australia
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire