Frederick Albert McDonald (7 December 1872 disappeared April 1926) was an Australian politician. He was a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

for Barton from 1922 until 1925, when he was narrowly defeated by

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Thomas Ley Thomas John Ley (28 October 188024 July 1947) was an Australian politician who was convicted of murder in England. He is widely suspected to have been involved in the deaths of a number of people in Australia, including political rivals. Early ...

. McDonald was challenging the election result in court when he mysteriously disappeared in 1926. It is widely suspected that Ley, who later died in an insane asylum in England after committing murder and had several other rivals die in mysterious circumstances, was responsible for McDonald's disappearance.

Early life

Frederick McDonald was born in

Grafton, New South Wales Grafton ( Bundjalung-Yugambeh: Gumbin Gir) is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, approximately by road north-northeast of the state capital Sydney. The closest m ...

, and studied at the Sydney Teachers' College 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 si ...

before becoming a teacher. He had been teaching at Hurstville Superior Public School for thirteen years at the time of his election; among his previous postings was at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. McDonald was president of both the

New South Wales Teachers Federation The New South Wales Teachers Federation (also known simply as the Federation) is the registered trade union that covers New South Wales (NSW) public school teachers. The New South Wales Teachers Federation represents all teachers in NSW public ...

(which he had been involved in founding) and the Assistant Teachers' Association, and had been credited with gaining the Teachers' Federation access to the

Industrial Court Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominat ...

. McDonald was president of his local branch of the Labor Party and president of Labor's electorate council for the

Lang Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

seat. He was narrowly defeated as a Labor candidate at the 1920 state election. In the 1922 federal election, McDonald contested the new seat of Barton for Labor, defeating the

member for the abolished seat of

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

Hector Lamond Hector Lamond (31 October 1865 – 26 April 1947) was an Australian politician. He was a Nationalist Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922, representing the electorate of Illawarra. Early life and career La ...

. McDonald married Mrs. I. B. Burnett at Scots Church in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in April 1924.

Political career

McDonald was involved in an extremely contentious race for re-election at the 1925 federal election, when he was challenged by Nationalist candidate and former state minister

. During the campaign, Ley lambasted McDonald for his alleged links to

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

. On the day before the election, 13 November 1925, McDonald alleged that the year before, Ley had tried to

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...

him into not recontesting Barton. Ley ferociously denied the allegations, and on election day issued a writ against McDonald claiming £15,000 for

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. Ley won the election by 1,090 votes, and McDonald acknowledged the defeat, stating "the Labor movement is ruled by its heart and not its head; had it been ruled by its head there would be a different story to tell". In January 1926, McDonald challenged the election result in the Court of Disputed Returns on the basis of the bribery allegations. In March 1926, it was reported that he and Ley had agreed on a legal settlement wherein McDonald issued an apology for the bribery allegations and they both stated their intention to withdraw their respective lawsuits. However, it has been suggested that McDonald subsequently "had a fit of remorse" and refused to withdraw the petition.

Disappearance

On 15 April 1926, McDonald disappeared on his way to a meeting with

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

Jack Lang, in which he was to have discussed a proposal to have the election result declared void. He was last seen at 2.30pm by his wife outside

Challis House Challis House is a heritage-listed commercial building located at 4-10 Martin Place in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The property was added to the New South Wa ...

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

when he left for the appointment with Lang, but never arrived. Despite the March announcement, McDonald's Court of Disputed Returns litigation had not been formally withdrawn, and when the matter went to court on 23 April, his solicitor denied knowledge of the settlement and sought an adjournment in the hope that McDonald would be found alive; however, the matter was struck out on the basis of the March announcement. Despite an extensive search, neither McDonald nor his attaché case were ever found. Initial reports suggested that McDonald was suffering from "nervous trouble" at the time of his disappearance. However, Ley was later deemed

insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

after committing murder in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and was committed to

Broadmoor Hospital Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...

, where he died. It is now widely suspected that Ley may have been responsible for McDonald's disappearance, and several other suspicious deaths of his political and personal opponents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Frederick 1872 births 1920s missing person cases 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Date of death unknown Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Barton Missing person cases in Australia Australian schoolteachers People from Grafton, New South Wales

Early life

Political career

Disappearance

See also

References