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McKAY, ST CLAIR (SANDY) (1905–1969), teacher and soldier, was born on 14 June 1905 at Port Kembla, New
South Wales, one of six children of Angus William McKay and his wife Lillian, nee Smith. He was educated to
Leaving Certificate standard at Newcastle High School and in 1924 attended Sydney Teachers’ College. Thereafter
he taught at numerous New South Wales schools, including eight years at single teacher schools in remote areas
and three years of opportunity classes. He served for four years with the Australian Imperial Force during the
Second World War and obtained a full Teacher’s Certificate on 1 January 1945.
He joined the Commonwealth Teaching Service in June 1952 and was posted to Delissaville in the Northern
Territory. This was a difficult first posting in the Territory as the previous teacher of the 10 girls and 20 boys had
been unsatisfactory and McKay was later to comment that formal teaching was ‘hindered until good relationships
between teacher and pupils were established.’ McKay, however, acquitted himself well and by early August was
teaching a further 12 males in an adult class.
He taught at Phillip Creek in 1953 and until May 1954 and he then established the Snake Bay School on
Melville Island, which opened on 2 June 1954. Initially the teacher’s residence was a small two-roomed building
but later a Sidney Williams’ hut was converted into a home.
A report on his work in the setting up of this school with 20 children, whose ages ranged from five to about
13 and of whom only four had ever been to school, praises his organising ability and the ‘ideal’ pupil teacher
relationship which he had developed. In addition, classes were run for adults, each week night, and they benefited
from the teacher’s presence in recreational activities. Instruction concentrated on literacy and social conduct.
In common with his sister, Margaret Dodd, McKay’s pupils were noted for the correctness of their English.
A journalist who visited the Snake Bay School about a year after it was established reported on the ‘perfect’
English spoken by the children and the general cleanliness of all. As the children came from bush camps, they
showered and put on school clothes each morning. McKay was a very musical man and singing and miming were
part of his teaching methods. It was said of him that much of what he taught was by way of rhyming couplets and
doggerel verse.
He remained at Snake Bay until 1960 when he then taught at Elizabeth Downs and at the School at Mainoru
established by his sister, while she was ill. McKay continued to teach in Aboriginal schools until his death in
Katherine on 25 September 1969 at the age of 64. At that time, he was teaching at the little school at Beswick
Station.
Australian Women’s Weekly, 8 June 1955; Northern Territory News, 26 September 1969; Northern Territory Archives Service, NTRS 291
(Dodd papers); family information.
HELEN J WILSON, Vol 2.
McKEDDIE, GEORGE (1851–1927), pioneer storekeeper and businessman, was born in Avoch, Scotland
in October 1851, the son of George McKeddie and his wife Isabella. He migrated with his family to Geelong,
Victoria, in 1855. Arriving in the Northern Territory in 1874, he originally lived at Southport, on the Blackmore
River. He joined the firm of P R Allen and Company, storekeepers, in 1878, later becoming a partner and Manager.
He retired in 1908. He was subsequently in business at ‘the Katherine’ as ‘mine host’ at the Sportsman’s Arms
Hotel. After 1920 he lived quietly in and around Darwin, spending a good deal of time at Delissaville on the Cox
Peninsula, where he had some livestock running. He died of heart disease in Melbourne, Victoria, where he had
travelled for medical attention, on 6 April 1927.
During his long residence in the Territory McKeddie made many friends and earned a reputation for being
straight and reliable in his business transactions. At various times he held diverse interests—especially in business,
mining and grazing. He was Director of a Territory syndicate which purchased and made an unsuccessful effort
to develop the Zapopan Gold Mine near Pine Creek. He also had a half interest in the Mount Wells tin mine.
A Justice of the Peace of long standing, he was for some years a member of the Darwin Town Council. At the time
of his death, he was also a member of the Bagot Road District Board and an Honorary Past Master of the Darwin
Masonic Lodge.
McKeddie does not seem to have married but was partner of a Larrakia Aboriginal woman, Annie Duwun.
They had two children, Lilly (or Lillie) and Jack. Delfin Cubillo was one of his 10 grandchildren.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 8 April 1927; Cubillo family information; McKeddie family information.
INEZ CUBILLO CARTER and DAVID CARMENT, Vol 2.
McKEOWN, ANNA ELIZABETH: see DOLAN, ANNA ELIZABETH
McKINLAY, JOHN (1819–1872), bushman and explorer, was born on 26 August 1819 at Sandbank, on Holy Loch,
Scotland, the son of a merchant, Dugald, and his wife, Catharine (nee McKellar). After local schooling, he migrated
at 16 with his brother, Alexander, to New South Wales, where they worked the land near Goulburn for an uncle,
Duncan McKellar. When McKellar went bankrupt, McKinlay, at 190 centimetres a giant for his time, moved
farther outback, learned bush-craft from the Aborigines and made money by taking up and selling squatting leases.
By the time he was 31 he held occupation licences in South Australia, was thoroughly self-reliant and an accurate
shot.
In 1861, the South Australian House of Assembly chose him to lead the South Australian Burke Relief
Expedition, which left Kapunda in August that year. After stopping at Blanchewater to collect six months’ supplies
and 100 sheep, the party reached Cooper Creek in October. McKinlay found what he thought was Charles Gray’s