Guide to the Papers of the Mackay Family, 1883-1957

Summary

Creator:

Mackay

Extent:

(52 ms boxes, 5 large folio boxes, 1 binder, 2 map folios)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of the Mackay Family, National Library of Australia, MS 10290, [class/series/file/items number(s)]'

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection comprises papers and correspondence (personal, business and official), photographs and ephemera of members of the pastoralist Mackay family, particularly brothers James Alexander (Kenneth) and Donald George Mackay and their families. The material mostly spans from the 1880s to the late 1950s.

Material relating to James (Kenneth) Mackay and his family forms the major part of the collection., It comprises family and other personal correspondence; military and war related material including on Mackay's military career, the Australian Light Horse, the Boer War, World Wars 1 and 2, and the Army Reserve; papers and correspondence relating to his NSW parliamentary activities; and correspondence with significant political and societal connections including Lord Beauchamp and Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson. There are papers and correspondence relating to Mackay's literary endeavours and connections including letters from Rudyard Kipling, Banjo Paterson and Jessie Ackermann; publishing arrangements; drafts and manuscripts for poetry, novels and travel commentaries. Other papers include those relating to the family's visits to, and interest in, India; correspondence and documents relating to family members' involvement in theosophy and the Liberal Catholic Church; and station records relating to the Wallandoon and Wallendbeen properties.

Material relating to Donald Mackay (and his wife Amy) focuses on his expeditions in Australia (particularly Central Australia and Arnhem Land with Herbert Basedow) and Papua. This includes correspondence, logs, maps and photographs. There is also personal and business related correspondence, as well as material relation to their residence in Port Hacking.

There is also a small amount of material relating to other family members, including photographic material of WW1 Australian military hospital in Cairo likely from neurosurgeon Alfred Walter Campbell and ledgers from Meagher's Department Stores in rural New South Wales.

Biographical Note:

Originally from Scotland and having worked in China with Jardine Matheson, Alexander Mackay first settled at Wallendbeen near Cootamundra in the 1840s. With wife Annie, he had four children: James, Donald, Walterina and Annie (who died as an infant).

James Alexander Kenneth Mackay (1859 - 1935) (CB, OBE) established the Wallandoon station on the family property. His was a multi- faceted and influential life with strong connections in literary, government, military, societal and pastoralist circles. He was:

- An outstanding horseman and, in his early life, an amateur jockey

- A published writer of short stories, poems, novels and a play (including Stirrup Jingles, a collection of bush ballads and The Yellow Wave, an imagining of a Chinese invasion

- A long term member of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council

- Chairman of the Royal Commission into the administration of Papua (1906/07)

- Active in military affairs, raising the 1st Light Horse (1897) and later commanding the 1st Light Horse Brigade; fighting in in the Boer War and acting as Chief Staff Officer for the Australian contingents; and forming and heading the Australian Army Reserve in WW1.

With wife Mabel, Kenneth had two daughters. Annie married Aldred Baldry, station manager on the family property and who fought on the Western front. One of their sons, Kenneth, trained and died as a pilot in WW2. Agnes married Eberhard Noltenius who was interned during WW2.

Donald George Mackay (1870 – 1958) (OBE, CBE) was a noted explorer, key undertakings including:

- A record breaking round Australia bicycle ride in 1899/90.

- Travelling abroad extensively and sailing in the South Pacific, to New Zealand and the Dutch East Indies 1890s/early 1900s.

- An expedition to investigate the headwaters of the Purari River in Papua in 1908.

- Financing and accompanying anthropologist Dr Herbert Basedow to Central Australia in 1926.

- A further expedition with Basedow to Arnhem Land in 1928.

- A series of aerial surveys of Central Australia in the 1930s.

Sister Walterina (Jean) married Alfred Walter Campbell, a noted Australian neurologist and researcher in the field; he served at the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Cairo for a period in WW1 and later published on neuroses and psychoses in the war.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography has entries for James Alexander Kenneth Mackay and Donald George Mackay.

Provenance:

The papers were acquired from the Mackay Family in 2011.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Society and culture
Agriculture

Conditions Governing Access:

Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn6859301).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of the Mackay Family, National Library of Australia, MS 10290, [class/series/file/items number(s)]'

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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