Donald Peter Macdonald (3 August 1886 – 3 November 1962) was an Australian politician and Christian minister. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

from 1941 to 1947 and an Independent member of parliament.

Early life

McDonald was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and was the son of a stockbroker. He emigrated to Sydney with his family at an early age and was educated at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

, and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

. He travelled to Britain to study at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

where he graduated with a Master of Arts (Divinity) and was ordained as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister in 1911. He initially ministered at Minard in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

but returned to New South Wales and took locum appointments at

Coonamble Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. It is the regional hub for wheat growing and ...

Gilgandra Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. Sitting at t ...

and Ultimo before being given a permanent position at Scots Kirk,

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

in 1915. The next year, Macdonald was given leave to serve as a chaplain with the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Au ...

in France, where he was awarded the ED. He had one son, Roderick, who was a war correspondent killed at the Battle of Monte Cassino and two daughters. After leaving parliament, Macdonald retired to a farm in the

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...

area. He was awarded the

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1962. He had a number of books published in 1909, 1915 and 1930.

State parliament

Macdonald had a conservative philosophy. He was a member of the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

(UAP) for many years but had become distressed by the links between big business and the party. He entered parliament as the Independent UAP member for

after winning the seat at the 1941 state election. Macdonald defeated the sitting UAP member, General

Herbert Lloyd Major General Herbert William Lloyd, (18 November 1883 – 10 August 1957) was an Australian Army officer who served in the First and Second World Wars. Early life and career Herbert William Lloyd was born in South Yarra, Melbourne, the son ...

, in a campaign marked by bitter attacks against Lloyd who had accepted a position as Director-General of Recruiting without resigning from parliament. In parliament, Macdonald campaigned for the state government to take a loan of £5,000,000 to revamp the public school system. He also called for education reforms including daily prayers and a ban on caning. In 1943 he led an attack in Parliament on the atheist Sydney University Professor of Philosophy, John Anderson, who had said there was no place for religion in education; both houses of Parliament condemned Anderson but the university's senate backed him. Macdonald did not join the newly formed

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, but easily retained the seat at the

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

state election. In that year he co-founded the Political Reform League with another independent

James Shand Major James Barclay Shand VD (1870 – 21 December 1944) was an Australian politician. Born at Pyrmont to joiner George Sand and Elizabeth, ''née'' Burns, Shand was educated at Fort Street Public School before working as a clerk with ...

, the member for

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

. This was intended to be the basis of a new centrist party in the state but failed to attract public support. Macdonald was defeated by the official Liberal Party candidate,

Pat Morton Philip Henry (Pat) Morton (28 October 191018 January 1999) was an Australian businessman and politician. Born in Lismore in Northern New South Wales to a prominent political family and educated at Lismore High School, Morton left school at f ...

, at the next election in 1947. He then retired from public life. He did not hold parliamentary or ministerial office, but was said to be only the second active ordained Christian minister in the Legislative Assembly since the Reverend J. D. Lang.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Donald 1886 births 1962 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Newington College 20th-century Australian politicians