Rev. Richard Dill Macky

Biography

Richard Dill Macky’s ministry at Byron Bay, on the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia, covered more than the town itself. A local historical account describes his charge as stretching from Broken Head north to Crabbes Creek and inland to Nashua. In September 1905, newspaper notices reported his acceptance of the call and his induction, followed by a welcome at the Mullumbimby School of Arts.

He had been born at Lisfannan, County Donegal, in northwestern Ireland, on September 13, 1847, the third child of William Macky and Susannah Dill. The family history records his birth at 7:20 in the evening. He was four when his father left for Victoria in May 1852; the letters home eventually stopped. Richard remained in Ireland with his mother and siblings. He later entered the Presbyterian ministry and, according to the family chronology, reached New South Wales in 1884. He used his mother's surname, Dill, alongside Macky.

The church's compiled ministerial register places him at Byron Bay from 1905 to 1912. His public activity also reached beyond church services. The Brunswick Valley Historical Society's account records him speaking against Irish Home Rule at a local Orange Lodge anniversary in May 1907. It also places him among the ministers addressing schoolchildren on Empire Day in 1911. These were occasions when religion and imperial politics met in the district's public life.

Richard died in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, in June 1929. A brief notice published on Monday June 24 reported his death on the preceding Saturday, giving June 22 as the implied date. It described him as a prominent Orangeman.