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{{Short description|Australian journalist (1859–1932)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Donald Macdonald
| caption = Macdonald {{c.|1920}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1859|6|6}}
| birth_place = [[Fitzroy, Victoria]], Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1932|11|23|1859|6|6}}
| 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 name]]s including 'Observer' and 'Gnuyang' (gossip).<ref name=Aus1932>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141367598 |title=DONALD MACDONALD |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 December 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=7 (METROPOLITAN EDITION) |via=Trove }}</ref><ref name=adb>Hugh Anderson, '[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100240b.htm Macdonald, Donald Alaster (1859–1932)]', ''[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]'', Vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, p. 249. Retrieved 14 November 2010</ref> He was considered one of Australia's widely known journalists,<ref name=Argus1932>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4510525 |title=MR. DONALD MACDONALD. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 November 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}</ref> and is in the Melbourne Press Club's Australian Media Hall of Fame.<ref name=MPC>{{cite web |title=Donald Macdonald |url=https://halloffame.melbournepressclub.com/article/donald-macdonald |website=The Australian Media Hall of Fame |publisher=The Melbourne Press Club |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref> He was credited with making 'Australian natural history and botany popular interests'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242984661 |title=Donald Macdonald |newspaper=[[The Herald (Melbourne)|The Herald]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 November 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=10 |via=Trove }}</ref>
Macdonald was born in [[Fitzroy, Victoria]], a suburb of [[Melbourne]], the elder son of Donald Macdonald and his wife Margaret, ''née'' Harris. Macdonald was educated at the [[Keilor, Victoria|Keilor]] state school where he became a pupil-teacher in 1876. He later joined the [[Corowa Free Press]] and then the [[The Argus (Australia)|▼
==Early life==
Writing under the [[pen name]] 'Observer', Macdonald established himself as a [[cricket]] and [[Australia rules football]] commentator. Macdonald "completely revolutionized cricket reporting" — he made the reports more vivid than the earlier over by over style.<ref name=dab>{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Donald Alaster|Last=Macdonald |Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogMc.html#macdonald1|accessdate=2010-11-14}}</ref>▼
▲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, Victoria|Keilor]] state school where he became a pupil-teacher in 1876. He later joined
Macdonald was first Australian war correspondent at the [[Second Boer War|South African War]]; during the war he was besieged at [[Siege of Ladysmith|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).<ref name=adb/>▼
On 26 February 1883 at [[Scots' Church, Melbourne]], Macdonald married Jessie Seward in 1883.<ref name=adb /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10959615 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 September 1934 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }}</ref> Seward was from a pioneering family of the Victorian [[Rochester, Victoria|Rochester]] area.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169881459 |title=City News. |newspaper=[[The Advocate (Melbourne)|Advocate]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 March 1907 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=21 |via=Trove }}</ref> 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').<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226878997 |title=MEN AND WOMEN. |newspaper=[[The Southern Cross (South Australia)|The Sunday Sun]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 December 1910 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=15 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22679410 |title=OBITUARY |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 July 1948 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title=Papers of Elaine Macdonald (Mrs. Whittle) – 1882-1948 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/227766025 | accessdate=22 May 2020 }}</ref>
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.<ref name=adb/>▼
==Career==
▲Writing under the [[pen name]] 'Observer', Macdonald established himself as a [[cricket]] and [[Australia rules football]] commentator.<ref name=DM1925>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220639485 |title=DONALD MACDONALD |newspaper=[[Daily Mail (Brisbane)|The Daily Mail]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=8 November 1925 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=13 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41178505 |title=DONALD MACDONALD |newspaper=[[Cairns Post]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=10 December 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}</ref> Macdonald "completely revolutionized cricket reporting" — he made the reports more vivid than the earlier over
▲Macdonald was first Australian [[war correspondent]] at the [[Second Boer War|South African War]]; during the war he was besieged at [[Siege of Ladysmith|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
▲Macdonald established a weekly column in the ''Argus'' called 'Nature Notes and Queries'; in 1909 it was extended to 'Notes for Boys'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10695440 |title=NOTES FOR BOYS. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 February 1909 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10746302 |title=NOTES FOR BOYS. SCOUTS' CONTROL. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 November 1909 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }}</ref> Macdonald also published the ''Bush Boy's Book'' (1911), enlarged in four more editions in
==Later years==
Macdonald died at his residence ''The Huts'', Karrakatta Street, [[Black Rock, Victoria]] (a seaside suburb of Melbourne),<ref name=DM1925 /><ref name=Argus1932 /> on 23 November 1932,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11714004 |title=Nature Notes and Queries |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 November 1933 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}</ref> had a private funeral and cremation,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141367287 |title=DEATH OF MR. DONALD MACDONALD |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 November 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=9 (METROPOLITAN EDITION) |via=Trove }}</ref> and was survived by his daughter.<ref name=dab/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143055383 |title=MR. DONALD MACDONALD |newspaper=[[The Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga)|Daily Advertiser]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 November 1932 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}</ref>
==Memorials==
By May 1937 the [[Sandringham, Victoria|Sandringham]] municipal council had purchased land at Black Rock to be used as a bird sanctuary as the 'Donald Macdonald Park'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11061185 |title=PARK MEMORIAL |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 May 1937 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=16 |via=Trove }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11268711 |title=DONALD MACDONALD'S MEMORIAL |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 December 1939 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142153009 |title=NATURE AND BUSH NOTES DONALD MACDONALD MEMORIAL: TRIBUTES TO A GREAT NATURALIST |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 December 1939 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=36 |via=Trove }}</ref> 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.<ref name=MonAus>{{cite web |title=Donald MacDonald |url=http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/arts/display/30312-donald-macdonald |website=Monument Australia |accessdate=22 May 2020}}</ref>
The memorial bird bath is at the western end of the park on Haydens Road opposite Wattle Avenue.<ref name=MonAus />
==Bibliography==
* ''Gum boughs and wattle blooms'' (1888)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143306222 |title=GUM BOUGHS AND WATTLE BLOOM.* |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 January 1888 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=11 |via=Trove }}</ref>
* ''How we kept the flag flying: The story of the siege of Ladysmith'' (1900)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19075175 |title=REVIEWS. |newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=29 December 1900 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=13 |via=Trove }}</ref>
* ''The Warrigal's Well'' (1901), a novel with John F. Edgar<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68258314 |title=CURRENT LITERATURE. |newspaper=[[The Capricornian]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=2 November 1901 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=28 |via=Trove }}</ref>
* ''Tourists' Handbook of Australia'' (1905)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164031916 |title=A RACY "TOURISTS' GUIDE" |newspaper=[[The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 May 1905 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=1214 |via=Trove }}</ref>
* ''Bush Boy's Book'' (1911)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15281401 |title=THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 October 1911 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198150606 |title=THE BUSH BOY'S BOOK. |newspaper=[[The Leader (Melbourne)|Leader]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 October 1911 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=54 |via=Trove }}</ref>
* ''At the end of the moonpath'' (1922),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190276430 |title=IN FAIRYLAND |newspaper=[[The World (Hobart)|World]] |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=28 November 1922 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58037235 |title=BOOKS TO READ "AT THE END OF THE MOONPATH." |newspaper=[[Sunday Times (Perth)]] |location=Western Australia |date=3 December 1922 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=3 (First Section) |via=Trove }}</ref> the funds raised 'provided a tidy income for the [[Royal Children's Hospital]]'<ref name=MPC />
* ''The brooks of morning'' (1933),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11692963 |title="THE BROOKS OF MORNING" |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 September 1933 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167698504 |title=REVIEWS and CAUSERIE |newspaper=[[The Southern Cross (South Australia)|Southern Cross]] |location=South Australia |date=20 October 1933 |access-date=22 May 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }}</ref> compiled by Macdonald's daughter after his death
{{Portal |Poetry |Australia|Biography|Journalism}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1018350 How we kept the flag flying : the story of the siege of Ladysmith] (1900) by Donald Macdonald at the National Library of Australia
* [https://halloffame.melbournepressclub.com/article/donald-macdonald The Australian Media Hall of Fame] entry for Macdonald
{{Authority control}}
▲| NAME = Macdonald, Donald Alaster
▲}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Donald Alaster}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Australian
[[Category:People of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:Australian war correspondents]]
[[Category:Australian children's writers]]
[[Category:The Argus (Melbourne) people]]
[[Category:People from Fitzroy, Victoria]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian writers]]
[[Category:People from the Colony of Victoria]]
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