Forbes Mackay, Hugh Rose (1871 - 1940)

Summary

Hugh Forbes Mackay, MIEAust, had a distinguished career as the electrical engineer and general manager of Sydney's electricity undertakings from 1908 until he retired in 1939. When he was appointed, from 139 applicants from all over the world, the Sydney City Council electricity department was supplying 1,600 consumers. At the time of his retirement, as the General Manager, Sydney County Council, this had increased to 250,000 as well as 30,000 consumers supplied by other local governing authorities with electricity bought in bulk.

He was one of the best-known electrical engineers in Australia, and his significant contribution to engineering was acknowledged when he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1936.

Details

His brother, Alister Forbes Mackay (1878 - 1914), was expedition doctor on the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909, led by Ernest Shackleton, and was a member of the ill-fated Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1914.

Chronology

c. 1889 - c. 1891

Education - Engineering course, Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh

c. 1891 - c. 1893

Career position - Apprenticeship, Gourlay Bros, Dundee. [Marine engineers]

c. 1893 - c. 1895

Career position - Working electrical engineering experience in the engine-rooms of steamers, P and O Company. [Making voyages to India, China and Japan]

c. 1895

Career position - Engineer, Brush Electrical Engineering Company

1895 - 1897

Career position - Shift engineer, Electric power station, Edinburgh Municipal Council

1897 - 1899

Career position - Engineer, on staff of Professor Alexander Kennedy, Consulting engineers [Consultants to Edinburgh Municipal Council, and for the erection of other electrical plants]

1899 - 1901

Career position - Chief Assistant to the City Electrical Engineer, Edinburgh Municipal Council

1901 - c. 1905

Career position - Electrical engineer, Battersea Municipal Council, London

1905 - 1907

Life event - Travelled to warmer climates, including the West Indies, for health reasons

1907 - 1908

Career position - Resident electrical engineer, Metropolitan District, Great Western Railway

1908

Life event - Moved to Sydney, Australia, to take up appointment with Electricity Department, Sydney City Council

1908

Career event - Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1908 - 1935

Career position - City Electrical Engineer, Electricity Department, Sydney City Council

1910 - 1911

Career position - President, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1914

Career event - Member, Electrical Association of Australia [from Electrical Association of New South Wales]

1914

Career event - Member, Engineering Association of New South Wales

1914 - 1915

Career position - NSW Councillor, Electrical Association of Australia

1919

Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1921

Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1935 - 1939

Career position - General manager, Sydney County Council

1936

Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering. Institution of Engineers Australia

1939

Life event - Retired

1939 - 1940

Career position - Chief Censor of Communications, New South Wales

1939 - 1940

Career position - Consulting electrical engineer

1940

Life event - Cremated, Northern Suburbs Crematorium

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Anderson, Gordon F., Fifty years of electricity supply : the story of Sydney's electricity undertaking (Sydney: Sydney County Council, 1955), 257 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Dunstan, David, 'Chapter 14: Electricity supply in the Sydney region' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 271-284. 'The Sydney Municipal System' pp.277-281, incl. photo Hugh Forbes Mackay. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Memoirs', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 12 (Dec 1940) (1940), 332-335. 'Hugh Rose Forbes Mackay, MIEAust', p.335. Details
• Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Presidential address', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of New South Wales (1910-1911), 5-16. Details
• Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'Notes on some of the motors connected to the City Council Electricity Supply mains', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of New South Wales (1911-1912), 43-44. Details
• Forbes Mackay, H. R., 'A short description of the electric supply undertaking of the Sydney City Council', Journal and abstract of proceedings of the Sydney University Engineering Society, 19 (1914), 32A-32K, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/SUES/article/view/2221. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Seventeenth Annual Report [1936]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (1937), 145-154. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1936 award) to Mr H R Forbes Mackay, MIEAust, Sydney Division', p.146. Details