20th-century Australian activist and murder victim
Donald Mackay
|
---|
|
Born
| Donald Bruce Mackay
(
1933-09-13
)
13 September 1933
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Disappeared
| 15 July 1977
(1977-07-15)
(aged 43)
|
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Occupation
| Businessman
|
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Years active
| 1950s?1977
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Known for
| Anti-drugs campaigning
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Donald Bruce Mackay
(13 September 1933 ? 15 July 1977) was an Australian businessman and anti-drug campaigner. He disappeared in 1977, but his body has never been found. In 1986, James Bazley was convicted on his murder.
Personal life and background
[
edit
]
Donald Mackay was born in
Griffith
,
New South Wales
, and raised in
Sydney
. His wife Barbara (1935?2001) was an active member of the
Uniting Church
in Griffith and was a part-time
physiotherapist
. The couple had four children: Paul, Ruth, Mary, and James. Mackay and his family ran a furniture business in Griffith called Mackay's Furniture.
[1]
The family still owns a property in Griffith,
[2]
but the furniture store was sold in July 2019.
[3]
Lead-up to murder
[
edit
]
In 1974, Mackay stood as a
Liberal
candidate for the
House of Representatives
against
Al Grassby
in the electorate of
Riverina
. His
'voting preferences'
went to the
Country Party
candidate
John Sullivan
, allowing Sullivan to unseat Grassby.
[4]
Mackay also stood for the Liberal Party in the state seat of
Murrumbidgee
at the
1973
and
1976
New South Wales state elections but was unsuccessful.
Concerned about the growing
illegal drug trade
in his local area, and learning of a large crop of
marijuana
in nearby
Coleambally
, Mackay informed Sydney drug squad detectives, resulting in several arrests and the conviction of four men of Italian descent. At the trial of the arrested men, Mackay was identified as the
whistleblower
.
[5]
An attempt was made to lure Mackay to
Jerilderie
by a "Mr Adams" who wished to make a large order of furniture from Mackay's business. Mackay, busy with other matters, sent employee Bruce Pursehouse to meet "Adams", who did not approach Pursehouse. This is believed to have been an attempt to assassinate Mackay. Pursehouse later identified a man he had seen at Jerilderie as a suspect in the Mackay killing.
[6]
Murder
[
edit
]
On 15 July 1977, Mackay disappeared from a hotel car park after having drinks with friends and has never been found. Stains from his blood group were evident on his van and on the ground nearby and his car keys were underneath the van.
[7]
[8]
Nearby were drag marks, hair, and three spent
.22
calibre cartridges.
[9]
The
Woodward Royal Commission
found that the six suspects to the murder all had convenient
alibis
.
[10]
On the night of the murder, Tony Sergi and Domenic Sergi, nominated as principal suspects by the Commission, were on a "
pub crawl
" in Griffith with a number of police officers; Giuseppe Barbaro and Rocco Barbaro went to Sydney and the
Gold Coast
, not returning to Griffith until 20 July; Francesco Barbaro, brother-in-law of Tony Sergi and cousin of Saverio Barbaro (who had been arrested three months earlier for marijuana production), stayed at the Griffith Ex-Servicemen's Club and
Robert Trimbole
was at a restaurant in
Randwick
.
[10]
Mackay's disappearance made headlines around the nation and many, such as Griffith supervisor of detectives James Bindon, drew the conclusion that Trimbole was responsible for the apparent
contract killing
.
[11]
Trimbole had previously made death threats against Mackay.
[11]
The killing fuelled the perception of Griffith as full of mobsters and "Australia's marijuana capital".
[12]
Woodward Royal Commission
[
edit
]
The Mackay case led to the then-
Premier
Neville Wran
appointing Justice
Philip Woodward
to lead the
Woodward Royal Commission
into the illegal drug trade in New South Wales. In 1979, Woodward found that Mackay had been murdered by a hitman acting on instructions from the "
Honoured Society
", a Griffith-based cell of the
'Ndrangheta
, a
Calabrian
criminal organisation.
[13]
[14]
Justice Woodward, in his final report, concluded that the members of this organisation involved in Mackay's murder were Francesco Sergi (born 24 January 1935), Domenic Sergi (born 3 March 1939), Antonio Sergi (born 4 February 1950), Antonio Sergi (born 29 October 1935), Francesco Barbaro (born 8 September 1937) and Robert Trimbole (born 19 March 1931).
[15]
Justice Woodward requested for police to search Griffith's "grass castles" but this was denied.
[16]
Aftermath of Mackay's murder
[
edit
]
In 1980, Grassby was charged with criminal
defamation
when it was alleged that he had asked state politician
Michael Maher
to read in the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
a document that imputed Mackay's wife Barbara and her family solicitor were responsible for Mackay's disappearance. An inquiry by John Nagle Q.C. found that "no decent man" could have spread the "scurrilous lies" that Grassby had.
[17]
Grassby maintained his innocence and fought a twelve-year battle in the courts before he was eventually
acquitted
on appeal in August 1992 and was awarded A$180,000 in costs.
[18]
He had already lost a civil suit filed by Barbara Mackay, forcing him to unconditionally apologise.
[19]
Gianfranco Tizzone, who turned informer in 1983, admitted to his 'complicity' in Mackay's murder.
[20]
Specifically, Tizzone admitted that he arranged for a hit man he knew as 'Fred' to undertake the contract.
[21]
When shown photographs of possible suspects, Tizzone fingered Bazley as the trigger man.
[21]
In 1984, the coroner ruled Mackay had died of "wilfully inflicted gunshot wounds".
[22]
Two years later, hitman James Frederick Bazley was charged over the death.
[23]
Bazley claimed he was innocent, blaming allegedly corrupt former Sydney detective
Fred Krahe
as the killer,
[24]
but was convicted of conspiring with Tizzone, Trimbole, Joseph and unknown other persons to murder Mackay, as well as the murders of drug couriers Douglas and Isabel Wilson.
[9]
He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
[22]
In July 2012, 35 years after his disappearance, the New South Wales police offered a $200,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of Mackay. The reward was considered a last-ditch attempt to gain evidence from reluctant witnesses. In particular those of Bazley, who was 86 in 2012 and unwell. However, in the rare moments he has broken his silence, Bazley denied he was the killer.
[25]
Legacy
[
edit
]
The annual Donald Mackay Churchill Fellowship was inaugurated in 1987.
[26]
The Churchill Trust awards a Donald Mackay fellowship annually for journalists and detectives to study methods of investigating and bringing to light organised crime.
[27]
In late 2008, the
Rotary Club
of Griffith erected a memorial in Banna Avenue, the main street of Griffith, to honour the 30th anniversary of Mackay's murder.
[17]
[28]
The statue of Mackay itself is a white
marble bust
with a plaque inscribed with "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Media
[
edit
]
Australian actor
Andrew McFarlane
portrayed him in the 2009 television series
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities
.
[29]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Silvester, John; Rule, Andrew (9 May 2010).
"Biographies"
.
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities
. Floradale Productions & Sly Ink.
ISBN
978-0977544097
.
- ^
Hicks, Lesley (14 July 2017).
"Forty years after Donald Mackay's murder, the Calabrian mafia still thrives"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
13 July
2018
.
- ^
Wood, Richard (14 July 2017).
"Still no body found after infamous political assassination 40 years ago"
.
Nine News
. Retrieved
13 July
2018
.
- ^
Poprzeczny, Joseph (4 April 2009).
"BOOKS: SMACK EXPRESS: How Organised Crime Got Hooked on Drugs, by Clive Small and Tom Gilling"
.
News Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on 14 October 2009
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Wright, Tony (30 April 2011).
"Heartache has no end for family of Donald Mackay"
.
The Age
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Jenny Cooke (4 July 1986).
"Witness still sees the face of a killer"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
.
- ^
"Mackay inquest December 6"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 28 July 1982.
Blood of the same group as Mr Mackay's was found spattered over the off-side bonnet and front tyre of his abandoned Minivan.
- ^
"Mackay killed for $10,000, inquest told"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 14 March 1984. p. 1.
Underneath were his car keys and nearby there were bloodstains...
- ^
a
b
Jenny Cooke (17 April 1986).
"Twisting trail that led to Mackay's murderer"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
.
While Mr Mackay's body has never been found, drag marks, hair and three spent .22 cartridge cases were found near his minivan in the hotel carpark the next day.
- ^
a
b
Bottom,
Shadow of Shame
, p. 29
- ^
a
b
"Inquiry told of Trimbole's 1974 threat to kill Mackay"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 16 June 1986.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
Tony Harrington (16 June 1983).
"Aussie Bob, the panel beater who became a millionaire"
.
The Age
. p. 10.
- ^
David Elias (8 November 1979).
"Secret crime report; State warned 15 years ago on Calabrians"
.
The Age
. p. 1.
Mr. Justice Woodward linked the Honored Society with the control of drugs around Griffith, the murder of anti-drug campaigner Mr. Donald Mackay and the 1963 Victoria Market murders.
- ^
"Mackay killed by Griffith drug group, judge finds"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 7 November 1979. p. 1.
Mr Donald Bruce Mackay was murdered and disposed of by a Griffith-based organisation, Mr Justice Woodward found in his report.
- ^
Bottom,
Shadow of Shame
, p. 46
- ^
Bottom,
Shadow of Shame
, p. ?
- ^
a
b
Sheehan, Paul (16 February 2009).
"Monuments to honesty and deceit"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Heinrichs, Paul (24 April 2004).
"Al Grassby, father of multiculturalism, dies"
.
The Age
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Jenny Cooke (1 June 1988).
"Prosection appeals over Grassby decisions"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. p. 11.
Mr Williams ? partly due to the lengthy delay in bringing the charge and the fact that Mrs Mackay already had won a civil suit with an unconditional apology from Mr Grassby ? permanently stayed the criminal defamation.
- ^
Bottom,
Shadow of Shame
, p. 80
- ^
a
b
Bottom,
Shadow of Shame
, pp. 85?86
- ^
a
b
Gregory, C. A. (2000).
"Mackay, Donald Bruce (1933?1977)"
.
Australian Dictionary of Biography
. National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University
.
ISSN
1833-7538
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Brown, Malcolm (16 February 2009).
"Dramatic Underbelly upsets those who were there"
.
WAtoday.com.au
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Bellamy, Patrick.
"The Fixer: The Rise and Fall of Australian Drug Lord Robert Trimbole"
. truTV
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Police hope $200,000 may prise open the secret of Donald Mackay's grave
, The Age, 14 July 2012
- ^
"Donald Mackay"
.
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
. Archived from
the original
on 22 July 2011
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
"Trust will continue Donald Mackay's crime fight"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 3 February 1987.
- ^
"Mackay's son pushes for bigger crime crackdown"
.
ABC News
. 13 October 2008
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
- ^
Blundell, Graeme (7 February 2009).
"Crime time"
.
The Australian
. Retrieved
19 May
2011
.
Notes
[
edit
]
- Bottom, Bob (1988).
Shadow of Shame: How the mafia got away with the murder of Donald Mackay
, Victoria (Australia): Sun Books,
ISBN
0-7251-0558-5
External links
[
edit
]
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