Donald Macdonald (journalist) explained

Donald Macdonald
Birth Date:1859 6, df=yes
Birth Place:Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Death Place:Black Rock, Victoria
Education:Keilor state school
Occupation:Journalist, war correspondent, sports writer, nature writer
Spouse:Jessie Seward
Children:1

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]

Early life

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.[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]

Career

Writing under the pen name 'Observer', Macdonald established himself as a cricket and Australia rules football commentator.[10] [11] Macdonald "completely revolutionized cricket reporting" — he made the reports more vivid than the earlier over-by-over style.

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] He returned to Australia in April–May 1900.[12] [13]

Macdonald established a weekly column in the Argus called 'Nature Notes and Queries'; in 1909 it was extended to 'Notes for Boys'.[14] [15] [16] 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

Macdonald died at his residence The Huts, Karrakatta Street, Black Rock, Victoria (a seaside suburb of Melbourne), on 23 November 1932,[17] had a private funeral and cremation,[18] and was survived by his daughter.[19]

Memorials

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'.[20] 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.[21] [22] 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.[23]

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

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: DONALD MACDONALD . . Victoria, Australia . 3 December 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 7 (METROPOLITAN EDITION) . Trove .
  2. Hugh Anderson, 'Macdonald, Donald Alaster (1859–1932)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, p. 249. Retrieved 14 November 2010
  3. News: MR. DONALD MACDONALD. . . Victoria, Australia . 24 November 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 6 . Trove .
  4. Web site: Donald Macdonald . The Australian Media Hall of Fame . The Melbourne Press Club . 22 May 2020.
  5. News: Donald Macdonald . . Victoria, Australia . 24 November 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 10 . Trove .
  6. News: Family Notices . . Victoria, Australia . 21 September 1934 . 22 May 2020 . 1 . Trove .
  7. News: City News. . . Victoria, Australia . 2 March 1907 . 22 May 2020 . 21 . Trove .
  8. News: MEN AND WOMEN. . . New South Wales, Australia . 18 December 1910 . 22 May 2020 . 15 . Trove .
  9. News: OBITUARY . . Victoria, Australia . 5 July 1948 . 22 May 2020 . 5 . Trove .
  10. News: DONALD MACDONALD . . Queensland, Australia . 8 November 1925 . 22 May 2020 . 13 . Trove .
  11. News: DONALD MACDONALD . . Queensland, Australia . 10 December 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 6 . Trove .
  12. News: MR. DONALD MACDONALD. . . Queensland, Australia . 19 May 1900 . 22 May 2020 . 15 . Trove .
  13. News: SMOKE CLOUDS . . Victoria, Australia . 7 May 1900 . 22 May 2020 . 3 . Trove .
  14. News: NOTES FOR BOYS. . . Victoria, Australia . 23 February 1909 . 22 May 2020 . 5 . Trove .
  15. 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
  16. News: NOTES FOR BOYS. SCOUTS' CONTROL. . . Victoria, Australia . 9 November 1909 . 22 May 2020 . 9 . Trove .
  17. News: Nature Notes and Queries . . Victoria, Australia . 24 November 1933 . 22 May 2020 . 7 . Trove .
  18. News: DEATH OF MR. DONALD MACDONALD . . Victoria, Australia . 26 November 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 9 (METROPOLITAN EDITION) . Trove .
  19. News: MR. DONALD MACDONALD . . New South Wales, Australia . 25 November 1932 . 22 May 2020 . 2 . Trove .
  20. News: PARK MEMORIAL . . Victoria, Australia . 1 May 1937 . 22 May 2020 . 16 . Trove .
  21. News: DONALD MACDONALD'S MEMORIAL . . Victoria, Australia . 13 December 1939 . 22 May 2020 . 8 . Trove .
  22. News: NATURE AND BUSH NOTES DONALD MACDONALD MEMORIAL: TRIBUTES TO A GREAT NATURALIST . . Victoria, Australia . 23 December 1939 . 22 May 2020 . 36 . Trove .
  23. Web site: Donald MacDonald . Monument Australia . 22 May 2020.
  24. News: GUM BOUGHS AND WATTLE BLOOM.* . . Victoria, Australia . 28 January 1888 . 22 May 2020 . 11 . Trove .
  25. News: REVIEWS. . . Queensland, Australia . 29 December 1900 . 22 May 2020 . 13 . Trove .
  26. News: CURRENT LITERATURE. . . Queensland, Australia . 2 November 1901 . 22 May 2020 . 28 . Trove .
  27. News: A RACY "TOURISTS' GUIDE" . . New South Wales, Australia . 17 May 1905 . 22 May 2020 . 1214 . Trove .
  28. News: THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK. . . New South Wales, Australia . 14 October 1911 . 22 May 2020 . 4 . Trove .
  29. News: THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK. . . Victoria, Australia . 7 October 1911 . 22 May 2020 . 54 . Trove .
  30. News: IN FAIRYLAND . . Tasmania, Australia . 28 November 1922 . 22 May 2020 . 2 . Trove .
  31. News: BOOKS TO READ "AT THE END OF THE MOONPATH." . . Western Australia . 3 December 1922 . 22 May 2020 . 3 (First Section) . Trove .
  32. News: "THE BROOKS OF MORNING" . . Victoria, Australia . 16 September 1933 . 22 May 2020 . 4 . Trove .
  33. News: REVIEWS and CAUSERIE . . South Australia . 20 October 1933 . 22 May 2020 . 3 . Trove .

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