Dr. James Dill Macky

Biography

James Macky's medical career can be followed through a professional register as well as family history. A history of medical practitioners in New Zealand lists his Scottish qualifications—L.R.C.P. Edinburgh, L.R.C.S. Edinburgh and L.F.P.S.—in 1885, followed by registration in New Zealand on September 11, 1886. It associates him with Auckland, on New Zealand’s North Island, and subsequently Ulmarra, on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales, Australia.

Born on June 14, 1844, James was identified by family research as a son of William Macky and Susannah Dill of Lisfannan, County Donegal, in northwestern Ireland. He married Mary Mitchell at St. Columb's Church, Lower Moville, on November 28, 1872. Irish birth entries for William George Macky in 1879 and George Duncan MacKy in 1880 name James and Mary. Identifying this Irish father with the later Australian physician remains a strong historical correlation.

He was about forty-one when he obtained the qualifications recorded in 1885. The surviving professional chronology places qualification after his marriage and the births of several children.

The family memorial account follows him to Sydney. It places his practice at the Scots Church manse in Jamison Street in 1889 and describes a later family home at Glebe Point Road, with consulting premises in Regent Street. It then gives him nine years of practice in the Clarence River district before retirement to Bucca Creek.

James died at Grafton on October 30, 1909, aged sixty-five. The medical-history reference gives septicaemia as the cause. Family research places his death at the home of his daughter Honoria Laurence Brodie in Fitzroy Street. He was buried in Grafton General Cemetery, where the memorial inscription records the date and his age.