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Macalister
This township on the Western
line was named after 'Slippery Mac', or rather, the Hon. Arthur
Macalister, three-times Premier of Queensland. Born in Glasgow,
Scotland (1818), he came from a poor family but studied law and came to
Australia with his wife in 1839. During the 1850s he practised law in
Ipswich, but from 1859 to 1876 he was prominent in the Queensland
parliament. He has been called the "father' of Queensland railways. In
1876 he became Queensland Agent-General in London. The deficiencies in
his understanding and practise of economics lead to difficulties for
the Queensland government and landed him in bankruptcy more than
once.
Macgregor
William MacGregor was a bright
young shoolboy from a poor family in Aberdeenshire whose intelligence
was early recognized by the local schoolmaster, minister and doctor.
They encouraged him to undertake further studies, but his studies for
the ministry were cut short when he got a girl pregnant. He married her
and went on to study medicine.
He joined the colonial service as a
doctor, but Sir Arthur Gordon in the Seychelles encouraged him to take
up administrative work and, when Gordon was sent as Governor to Fiji,
MacGregor accompanied him. His first wife died while they were in Fiji
and he married again. Both wives had the same name, Mary.
He was
knighted while serving as Administrator of British New Guinea, and he
then served as Governor of Lagos, then of Newfoundland, and (1909-1914)
of Queensland. He retired to Scotland and died there 1919.
He
studied the classics and languages and always encouraged education and
scientific research. He was the first Chancellor of the University of
Queensland. His attitude toward native peoples has been described as
that of humanitarian paternalism.
Macintyre River
Allan Cunningham named the river after Captain Peter Macintyre who had provided horses and drays for his 1827 expedition.
Mackenzie
The name commemorates Colonel W. Mackenzie who had a sugar mill on Scrubb Road.
Maclagan
The name of the Scot,
Major-General Sinclair Maclagan, killed in action in France, replaced
the name of Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck (1815-98), first
chancellor of the German Empire, as the name of this township during
the First World War.
Macleay Island
According to
Archibald Meston,
this island was known to the Aboriginal people as Jencoomercha. For a
while it was known to the whites as Tim Shea's Island because a convict
by that name managed to live on the island for nearly fourteen years
without detection. It was given its current name by surveyor Warner,
1839, thereby giving recognition to Alexander McLeay who was the
Colonial Secretary in Sydney from 1825 to 1837.
Alexander
Mcleay was 58 years of age when he came to Sydney with his wife,
Elizabeth, to become the civilian assistant to the Governor, a position
he held for eleven years, first under Darling and then under Bourke.
He
made full use of his entitlement to land grants and bought up as much
land as he could. He was an enthusiastic horticulturalist and
entomologist, and became the first President of the Australian Museum
in Sydney. He was President of the Public Library as well, and in that
capacity laid the foundation stone for the building in 1843. He was
over eighty when he was involved in the carriage accident which claimed
his life.
McPherson Range
The range
which forms part of the border between New South Wales and Queensland
was named by Logan, Cunningham and Fraser while on their 1828
expedition. Major Duncan McPherson after whom they named it was an
officer in the 39th Regiment.
Maleny
It has
generally been understood that the name derives from a Scottish
village, Maleny Bank, today part of the Edinburgh suburb of Balerno
although sometimes reference is made to the Malleny Hills, south-west
of Edinburgh.
An 1866 map shows Malleny Mountain on the Blackall Range. However
Catherine Rees in her recollections of pioneering days says that she
understood it was named after the surveyor who laid out the property
boundaries for the settlement.
Malling
Originally named Box Gully, this district became Malling in 1921.
Ma Ma Creek Named
by Europeans using words derived from Aboriginal mia mia (however
not in local language) referring to bark huts.
Manchester Falls
The poet and writer, George
Essex Evans, said that Manchester Falls were named after the Duke of Manchester
who probably visited the Bunya Mountains around 1880.
Manly
The bayside
suburb of Manly borrowed its name from Manly in Sydney when the Arnold
Brothers developed Manly Beach Estate in 1882. It is said that Manly in
New South Wales got its name from the impression the manly appearance
of the Aboriginal warriors there made on the white people who first saw
them. The earlier name for the Manly area came from a property called
Wyvernleigh owned by Thomas Jones. This house was purchased by the Arnold brothers in the 1880s. It later became
Tingalpa House. The Aboriginal name for the area was
Narlung.
Mansfield
Named after Sir Alan
Mansfield.
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