Donald Alaster Macdonald (6 June 1859 – 23 November 1932) was an Australian journalist and nature writer, writing under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

s including 'Observer' and 'Gnuyang' (gossip).Hugh Anderson,
Macdonald, Donald Alaster (1859–1932)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, p. 249. Retrieved 14 November 2010 He was considered one of Australia's widely known journalists, and is in the Melbourne Press Club's Australian Media Hall of Fame. He was credited with making 'Australian natural history and botany popular interests'.

Early life

Macdonald was born in

Fitzroy, Victoria Fitzroy is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, northeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Fitzroy recorded a population ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, 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. Seward was from a pioneering family of the Victorian Rochester area. 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

'Taunton Vale').

Career

Writing under the

'Observer', Macdonald established himself as a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and Australia rules football commentator. Macdonald "completely revolutionized cricket reporting" — he made the reports more vivid than the earlier over-by-over style. Macdonald was first Australian

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

at the

South African War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

; 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). He returned to Australia in April–May 1900. Macdonald established a weekly column in the ''Argus'' called 'Nature Notes and Queries'; in 1909 it was extended to 'Notes for Boys'. 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.

Later years

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

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

Bibliography

* ''Gum boughs and wattle blooms'' (1888) * ''How we kept the flag flying: The story of the siege of Ladysmith'' (1900) * ''The Warrigal's Well'' (1901), a novel with John F. Edgar * ''Tourists' Handbook of Australia'' (1905) * ''Bush Boy's Book'' (1911) * ''At the end of the moonpath'' (1922), the funds raised 'provided a tidy income for the

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), colloquially referred to as the Royal Children's, is a major children's hospital in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Regarded as one of the great C ...

' * ''The brooks of morning'' (1933), compiled by Macdonald's daughter after his death

References

External links

How we kept the flag flying : the story of the siege of Ladysmith
(1900) by Donald Macdonald at the National Library of Australia
The Australian Media Hall of Fame
entry for Macdonald {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Donald Alaster 1859 births 1932 deaths Australian people of Scottish descent People from the Colony of Victoria People from Fitzroy, Victoria Journalists from Melbourne The Argus (Melbourne) people ategory:War correspondents of the Second Boer War Australian war correspondents Australian children's writers 19th-century Australian writers