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Donald Macdonald (journalist)

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Donald Alaster Macdonald (6 June 1859 – 23 November 1932) was an Australian journalist and nature writer, writing under the pen names including 'Observer' and 'Gnuyang' (gossip).[1][2] He was considered one of Australia's widely known journalists,[3] and is in the Melbourne Press Club's Australian Media Hall of Fame.[4] He was credited with making 'Australian natural history and botany popular interests'.[5]

Donald Macdonald
Macdonald c. 1920
Born(1859-06-06)6 June 1859
Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Died23 November 1932(1932-11-23) (aged 73)
Black Rock, Victoria
EducationKeilor state school
Occupation(s)Journalist, war correspondent, sports writer, nature writer
SpouseJessie Seward
Children1

Early life

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Macdonald was born in Fitzroy, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, the elder son of Donald Macdonald (of Scottish–Canadian heritage) and his wife Margaret, née Harris. Macdonald was educated at the Keilor state school where he became a pupil-teacher in 1876. He later joined The Corowa Free Press and then the Melbourne Argus newspaper in 1881.

On 26 February 1883 at Scots' Church, Melbourne, Macdonald married Jessie Seward in 1883.[2][6] Seward was from a pioneering family of the Victorian Rochester area.[7] Their only daughter (J)essie Elaine (1885–2 July 1948), married in 1910 to James Service Northam Whittle, also became a traveller and free lance journalist (writing under the pen name 'Taunton Vale').[8][9][10]

Career

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Writing under the pen name 'Observer', Macdonald established himself as a cricket and Australia rules football commentator.[11][12] Macdonald "completely revolutionized cricket reporting" — he made the reports more vivid than the earlier over-by-over style.[13]

Macdonald was first Australian war correspondent at the South African War; during the war he was besieged at Ladysmith. Macdonald's despatches from Ladysmith were eventually sent to Australia and published in the Argus. Later they were reprinted in a book How we kept the flag flying: The story of the siege of Ladysmith (1900).[2][1] He returned to Australia in April–May 1900.[14][15]

Macdonald established a weekly column in the Argus called 'Nature Notes and Queries'; in 1909 it was extended to 'Notes for Boys'.[16][17][18] Macdonald also published the Bush Boy's Book (1911), enlarged in four more editions in 1927–33; a nature book for children, At the End of the Moonpath (1922); and his daughter made a selection of his writings in The Brooks of Morning (1933). Macdonald also compiled the Tourists' Handbook of Australia (1905) and wrote a novel, The Warrigal's Well (1901), in collaboration with John F. Edgar.[2]

Later years

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Macdonald died at his residence The Huts, Karrakatta Street, Black Rock, Victoria (a seaside suburb of Melbourne),[11][3] on 23 November 1932,[19] had a private funeral and cremation,[20] and was survived by his daughter.[13][21]

Memorials

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By May 1937 the Sandringham municipal council had purchased land at Black Rock to be used as a bird sanctuary as the 'Donald Macdonald Park'.[22] The park today is an area between Fourth, Stawell, and Keating Streets, and Haydens Road. Within the reserve is a playing field, skate park, playground, and the Beaumaris scout den.

Additionally, a large memorial bird bath bearing his portrait in bronze was unveiled on Sunday 17 December 1939 at the Black Rock park by his daughter who had just returned from England. It was designed by sculptor Stanley Hammond, following contributions of many readers of The Argus and The Australasian from 1937.[23][24] The plaque read:

Donald MacDonald, friend of the creatures of the wild, chose this district in which to live and to end his days.
Born at Fitzroy 1857, died at Black Rock 1932.
Erected by readers of his "Nature Notes" in the Argus.[25]

The memorial bird bath is at the western end of the park on Haydens Road opposite Wattle Avenue.[25]

Bibliography

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  • Gum boughs and wattle blooms (1888)[26]
  • How we kept the flag flying: The story of the siege of Ladysmith (1900)[27]
  • The Warrigal's Well (1901), a novel with John F. Edgar[28]
  • Tourists' Handbook of Australia (1905)[29]
  • Bush Boy's Book (1911)[30][31]
  • At the end of the moonpath (1922),[32][33] the funds raised 'provided a tidy income for the Royal Children's Hospital'[4]
  • The brooks of morning (1933),[34][35] compiled by Macdonald's daughter after his death

References

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  1. ^ a b "DONALD MACDONALD". The Australasian. Victoria, Australia. 3 December 1932. p. 7 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  2. ^ a b c d Hugh Anderson, 'Macdonald, Donald Alaster (1859–1932)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, p. 249. Retrieved 14 November 2010
  3. ^ a b "MR. DONALD MACDONALD". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  4. ^ a b "Donald Macdonald". The Australian Media Hall of Fame. The Melbourne Press Club. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Donald Macdonald". The Herald. Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 21 September 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  7. ^ "City News". Advocate. Victoria, Australia. 2 March 1907. p. 21. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  8. ^ "MEN AND WOMEN". The Sunday Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1910. p. 15. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  9. ^ "OBITUARY". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 5 July 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  10. ^ Papers of Elaine Macdonald (Mrs. Whittle) – 1882-1948, retrieved 22 May 2020
  11. ^ a b "DONALD MACDONALD". The Daily Mail. Queensland, Australia. 8 November 1925. p. 13. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  12. ^ "DONALD MACDONALD". Cairns Post. Queensland, Australia. 10 December 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  13. ^ a b Serle, Percival (1949). "Macdonald, Donald Alaster". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  14. ^ "MR. DONALD MACDONALD". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland, Australia. 19 May 1900. p. 15. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  15. ^ "SMOKE CLOUDS". The Herald. Victoria, Australia. 7 May 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  16. ^ "NOTES FOR BOYS". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 23 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  17. ^ 1909 'NOTES FOR BOYS. GIRL AIDS.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 2 November, p. 7. , viewed 22 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10744847
  18. ^ "NOTES FOR BOYS. SCOUTS' CONTROL". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 9 November 1909. p. 9. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  19. ^ "Nature Notes and Queries". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1933. p. 7. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  20. ^ "DEATH OF MR. DONALD MACDONALD". The Australasian. Victoria, Australia. 26 November 1932. p. 9 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  21. ^ "MR. DONALD MACDONALD". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 25 November 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  22. ^ "PARK MEMORIAL". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 1 May 1937. p. 16. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  23. ^ "DONALD MACDONALD'S MEMORIAL". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 13 December 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  24. ^ "NATURE AND BUSH NOTES DONALD MACDONALD MEMORIAL: TRIBUTES TO A GREAT NATURALIST". The Australasian. Victoria, Australia. 23 December 1939. p. 36. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  25. ^ a b "Donald MacDonald". Monument Australia. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  26. ^ "GUM BOUGHS AND WATTLE BLOOM.*". The Australasian. Victoria, Australia. 28 January 1888. p. 11. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  27. ^ "REVIEWS". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland, Australia. 29 December 1900. p. 13. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  28. ^ "CURRENT LITERATURE". The Capricornian. Queensland, Australia. 2 November 1901. p. 28. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  29. ^ "A RACY "TOURISTS' GUIDE"". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 17 May 1905. p. 1214. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  30. ^ "THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 14 October 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  31. ^ "THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK". Leader. Victoria, Australia. 7 October 1911. p. 54. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  32. ^ "IN FAIRYLAND". World. Tasmania, Australia. 28 November 1922. p. 2. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  33. ^ "BOOKS TO READ "AT THE END OF THE MOONPATH."". Sunday Times (Perth). Western Australia. 3 December 1922. p. 3 (First Section). Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  34. ^ ""THE BROOKS OF MORNING"". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 16 September 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
  35. ^ "REVIEWS and CAUSERIE". Southern Cross. South Australia. 20 October 1933. p. 3. Retrieved 22 May 2020 – via Trove.
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