The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Mackay, Hon. Angus
Mackay, Hon. Angus, son of Murdoch Mackay, of 78th Highlanders, and Elizabeth (Macleod) his wife, was born at Aberdeen on Jan. 26th, 1824, and was taken to Sydney, N.S.W., by his parents when only three years old. He was educated at the Australian College, and was intended for the Presbyterian ministry, but became a schoolmaster, and meanwhile contributed to the Australian Magazine and also to the Atlas, a Sydney paper, established by Mr. Robert Lowe (now Viscount Sherbrooke). In 1847 he became editor of the Atlas, but resigned in 1850 to become manager of a business for Mr. (now Sir Henry) Parkes at Geelong, Victoria. Returning to Sydney, he was attached to the People's Advocate, but again took up his residence in Victoria in 1853, and in the following year joined in purchasing the Bendigo Advertiser, subsequently assisting his co-partners in starting the M‘Ivor Times and the Riverine Herald. In Feb. 1868 Mr. Mackay was returned to the Victorian Parliament for Sandhurst, and was re-elected in March 1871 and again in April 1874. At the general election in May 1877 Mr. Mackay suffered defeat owing to his adherence to Sir James M‘Culloch; but Mr. Blackham, who displaced him, being unseated on petition, he was once more returned for Sandhurst in July of the same year. Having again gone to reside in Sydney, he did not offer himself as a candidate in 1880, but was elected in 1883 and again rejected in 1886. In July 1879 Mr. Mackay started the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper on behalf of a company of which he was manager till Feb. 1883, when he was re-elected for Sandhurst. Mr. Mackay was Minister of Mines in the M‘Culloch Government from April 1870 to June 1871, and in the Francis Administration from June 1872 to July 1874, acting also as Minister of Public Instruction from May to July 1874. In the Kerferd Government Mr. Mackay continued to be Minister of Mines and Education from July 1874 to August 1875. He died on July 7th, 1886.