32 families who shaped Mackay across the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries
From business moguls to patrons of the arts, here are 32 families that had or are having an indelible impact on Mackay. How many do you know?
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To include every family that has been instrumental in shaping Mackay throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries would warrant a heavy book indeed.
And so, out of the numerous families, here are just 32 that have left their indelible mark on the community across culture, architecture, tourism, politics and much more.
Without further ado and in no particular order:
The Keeley Family
Mackay would not be, well, Mackay without its various local watering holes which is why the Keeleys are a notable inclusion.
Charles Keeley moved to Mackay in 1863 and applied for his Golden Fleece Hotel along River St to be the first pub in the region to legally sell alcohol.
Within a few short years, at least four others followed suit.
While the Golden Fleece was eventually demolished it served as an important cultural, communications and political melting pot in its many outfits including as the Springs, back to the Golden Fleece, then the Oriental and finally as the Post Office Hotel before it was flatted in 1970 to build the present Riverside House.
You could go there to send telegrams, host meetings and vote in elections, with Mr Keeley himself entering politics as a Mackay councillor for 14 years.
He also owned a lot of land, introduced vegetable and poultry farming, sired thoroughbred draught horses, developed properties, became a magistrate at the Mackay court and was a Justice of the Peace.
Mr Keely was also instrumental in launching Mackay’s early copper mining industry as managing director of the Mount Orange Copper Mining Company and shareholder in the Pinevale Copper Syndicate.
Keeleys Rd in Slade Point is named in his honour.
The Waghorn Family
The Waghorn family played a key role in Mackay’s sugar industry and the just as sweet cordial factories.
William Ashdown Waghorn moved to Mackay in the early 1900s after working as an engineer at CSR Company.
He was an engineer at Homebush, Marian, Racecourse, Pleystowe, Cattle Creek and Farleigh mills, before leaving his post to enter a partnership with two of his four children, sons Charles William and John Alexander.
Together they opened Waghorn and Sons Cordial Factory in 1930 along Gordon St, taking over from the Balzer family.
They were known for their national-prize-winning Ginger Ale and the Jusfrute drinks franchise.
William’s wife Margaret was involved in the cultural scene singing at events such as at a Thanksgiving Day gathering with American servicemen on leave in Mackay during World War II.
Mackay historian Glen Hall wrote the Waghorn factory was demolished in 1984 to make space for a car dealership’s extension.
The Porter Family
Mackay’s building history is synonymous with the Porters with the founder’s great, great grandchildren now carrying the mantle.
Charles Porter moved to Mackay in 1883 to build the Empress of India Hotel (now Taylor’s) at the corner of Wood and Alfred streets.
But he could not source building supplies and thus opened his own hardware store — Charles Porter and Sons — in Brisbane St, where it still operates today as Porters Mitre 10.
A few of the Porters clan have since stretched their business repertoire into other fields including Kylie Porter who is the chief executive officer of the Greater Whitsunday Alliance and Greg Porter who joined the WHF group as its business development and program implementation manager.
The Bucas Family
Born in France, Father Pierre Bucas was Mackay’s first parish priest and the namesake for the suburb of Bucasia, formerly known as Seaview.
“This beloved pastor laboured here for over 40 years and became one of the most outstanding personalities of North Queensland,” a Daily Mercury article stated on November 4, 1946.
“He was noted far and wide for his charity and piety.”
His obituary published in the Mercury on October 24, 1930, stated he founded numerous churches, schools, convents, presbyteries, hospitals and orphanages in Central Queensland and “cared not only for the whites, but (also) had a great veneration for the aboriginal population”.
Father Bucas also bought nuns to Mackay for the first time and founded the St Joseph’s orphanage at Bucasia.
The Gillham Family
Thousands of Mackay families made precious memories thanks to the Gillhams who operated a drive-in movie theatre.
The Grove Drive-in, where the The Grove Tavern now sits along Andergrove Rd in Andergrove, opened in the early 1960s.
Birch Carroll and Coyle bought it in 1972 and shut it down a decade later in 1987.
The Connors Family
The Connors family has made strong contributions to Mackay’s cultural and hospitality scene.
Graeme Connors, who began his 40-year-plus career singing at the Parish Hall on Wood St, joins country legends Slim Dusty, Tex Morton, Buddy Williams and John Williamson in the Roll of Renown-the country Music Hall of Fame.
And together with wife Lyn, and sons Damien and Adrian with their wives Madeleine and Vanessa, they own several food businesses in Mackay.
This includes The Dispensary along Wood St, formerly known as Burp — with Graeme hand-picking the wine offerings, the Byrnes pies and pastries franchise and Home Base at Mackay Base Hospital.
The Connors employ more than 90 Mackay staff and are advocates for a revival of Mackay’s CBD including getting behind a move to increase residential living.
The Angus Family
The Angus Family is shaping modern beef production with its $37 million boutique abattoir Signature On Farm near Moranbah.
The family — whose name actually descends from Scotland’s Aberdeenshire where Angus cattle began — spent five years planning the 6000sq m greenfields site.
Josie and Blair Angus are the mum-and-dad cattle entrepreneurs behind the operation bringing processing “back to the bush” in a bid to meet the international appetite for high-value red meat.
It services Australian restaurants, IGA supermarkets, wholesalers and butchers, including in Mackay, and ships to 30 countries across the globe.
The Croker Family
The Croker family had a big role in Mackay’s business community including shipping, fuels, vehicles, homewares, steel, galvanised pipe, insurance and more.
James Croker with sons Raymond and Arnold Croker were shipping agents for the Adelaide Steamship Company in the late 19th century with warehouses and wharves on River St.
The family handled the shipping of the region’s entire sugar production for more than 50 years until the outer harbour opened in 1939.
The Crokers also partnered with Alan Shepherd of the former Shepherd Anvil Stores in 1938 and were, through James Croker and Sons, responsible for Mackay’s first ocean terminal.
In 1977, the family opened Crokers Truck Centre, the first Volvo franchise in Mackay, later adding Isuzu and Mack trucks to its suite.
Western Truck Group acquired Crokers Truck Centre in 2021 with Glen Croker the dealer principal.
The Fatnowna Family
If you grew up in Mackay, chances are you went to school, worked with or became friends with a Fatnowna.
One of Mackay’s earliest Fatnownas was John Kwailiu Abelfair Fatnowna.
He was blackbirded from the Solomon Island of Malita to work on Mackay sugar farms in the late 1800s.
“As a time-expiree, he returned home, married his fiancee (Orrani) and together they came back to Mackay as indentured labourers,” Mackay Regional Council wrote in its A Heritage Walk Mackay Cemetery publication.
“They worked at Meadowlands and Pioneer plantations and eventually settled at Farleigh.
“After 20 years, Kwailiu and (Orrani) and their five children chose to be returned to their homeland.
“They were shipwrecked and came back to Mackay once more.”
Kwailiu’s story is recorded in Teresa Fatnowna’s Faith of our Fathers: A Journey of Three Fatnownas alongside Harry John Fatnowna and Christian Harold Fatnowna.
His and Orrani’s descendants include the Fatnowna, Mooney, Bobongie and Fewquandie families with grandson Oliver Noel Fatnowna remembered fondly as one of Mackay’s ambulance officers.
Growing up near Bucasia, Noel and his brother Norman were, in 1950, the only black ambulance bearers in Queensland, writes Clive Moore in the Australian Dictionary of Biography 2021.
The Comino Family
The Comino Family has owned businesses in Mackay for more than a century, starting as proprietors of the Sydney Oyster Saloon in 1906 after Peter Comino migrated from Greece.
Vikki Berardi wrote it was a cafe occupying a building that later became Fosseys and has since been subdivided.
He had 10 children including Cyril Comino, whose daughter Vassie runs the P Comino and Sons clothing store along Sydney St, which first opened as Comino’s Drapery in the same location in 1932.
“The scent of tweed, wool and leather, the sight of handwritten invoice books and the echo of thousands of footsteps as children scamper around the timber and glass shelves are woven into the (century-old) history of the Comino Family‘s contribution to our community,” Ms Beradi wrote.
The Marsh Family
English-born William Marsh and his family shaped Mackay through business and civic pursuits.
Mr Marsh, together with Charles Webster, founded Marsh and Webster in 1875.
Its department store on the corner of Sydney and Victoria Streets was the go-to shopping destination selling everything from furniture to fashion to groceries until 1963 when it was sold to retail giant David Jones.
Mr Marsh was also the mayor of Mackay in 1878, and was pivotal to establishing the Fire Brigade and the Mackay Chamber of Commerce.
He was also a member of the Kennedy Royal Arch Chapter and Mackay Masonic Lodge.
The Brown Family
Brown was one of Mackay’s most influential architects says Sugar City and Modernism Society chairman Nicholas McDougall.
Harold Vivian Marsh Brown was a pupil of Brisbane architects Cavanagh and Cavanagh, before returning home to Mackay in 1932 during The Depression to open his own practice from home on Brisbane St.
Over the following decade, he designed at least 13 buildings including the Holy Trinity Anglican Parish hall, the Pioneer Shire Council building in Wood St, McGuire’s Hotel, the Oriental Hotel (since demolished), Hotel Mackay, Imperial Hotel, the Cominos building in Wood St, and the Mackay Fire Station (since demolished).
Brown also designed the St Patrick’s Catholic Church in River St, Frances Xavier Catholic Church and Presbytery in West Mackay, St Mary’s Catholic Church in South Mackay, Saint Michaels in Sarina, the RSL Memorial Hotel in Sydney St, The Shamrock hotel along Nebo Rd and Chaseley House in Sydney St.
“Brown was noted as preferring to work on corner blocks and used a rounded corner in many of his designs,” Mr McDougall wrote.
The Reseck Family
The hot deliciousness that is a McDonald’s French fry arrived in Mackay thanks to the Reseck family.
Ron Reseck with wife Chree opened their eagerly-anticipated drive-through McDonald’s restaurant just off the Bruce Highway in North Mackay in 1990.
In the following years Mr and Mrs Reseck opened five restaurants in the Mackay region, including a McDonald’s express in the CBD in the old Australian Hotel, proudly running them as a family owned and operated business.
Mr Reseck retired in 2016, passing on the North Mackay business to younger generations with daughter Niki Ramsay taking the lead.
The Camilleri Family
Husband and wife Charlie and Jacqui Camilleri are a power couple in Mackay.
Charlie Camilleri has developed multiple properties and estates across Mackay including refurbishments in the CBD and he has ambitious plans to build a retirement village, hotel and shopping centre next to Mount Pleasant Centre where he grew up.
Along with owning Mount Pleasant Plaza, Mr Camilleri owns the Palace Hotel and Breakwater Bar and Restaurant — formerly known as Mackay Yacht Club.
Jacqui is a board member on the Trudy Crowley Foundation, which was able to buy a new car for Mackay’s only ovarian cancer palliative nurse based at the Icon Cancer Centre.
The Vellas
The name Vella is as synonymous with Mackay as Smith is in Australia.
It has been said before that ‘you can‘t come from a family like the Vellas and not be involved in the local community … they literally are part of the fabric of the community’.
But there are also many strings to the family’s business bow.
The name is probably best known for its extensive interests in sugar cane and transport haulage industries.
One line of the family, in just one generation, has grown its holdings from a modest 16-hectare cane farm to a highly diversified farming powerhouse.
Ray and Leah Vella, together with Ray’s parents George and Jane, sister Patricia and wife Rata run the outfit from Rockhampton through to Proserpine.
The Vellas are also known for delicious food after Nora Vella opened Vella‘s Fish Bar in Sydney St in 1980, though Judy Fenech has since taken over the business, and Vella’s Foodstore at Ooralea which the late Chris Vella and his wife Kim ran for more than 25 years.
Another fun fact – Joe Vella, who migrated from Malta in 1920, once worked as a Mister Whippy ice cream vendor.
It’s impossible to detail how every line of the Vella clan and their descendants have influenced Mackay over more than a century, there would be few in town unable to name a Vella who has made a difference.
The Michelmore Family
John Alfred Michelmore created the J. Michelmore and Co. Pty Ltd with the backing of William Thomas Bagley and Edmund Dimmock.
John Oxley Library stated it developed into a major company with more than 350 employees, 16 warehouses and four hotels at the time of its 75th anniversary in 1966.
These included electrical, radio and liquor departments as well as Hotel Whitsunday along Victoria St in Mackay, now home to the recently reopened Ban-na Thai Restaurant.
The Shepherd Family
At first, Daniel Shepherd rejected Mackay for Bowen as he was unimpressed with the bush settlement.
But he returned to open a hardware and general store in 1873 on the corner of River and Brisbane St.
Shepherd Anvil Stores was extremely successful, operating for more than a century.
Mr Shepherd also engaged in civic life as a foundation member of the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows and member of the Mackay Harbour Board.
He was also a councillor and the first chairman of the Mackay Chamber of Commerce.
His grandson Alan Cameron Shepherd was similarly a giant in the Mackay business world working for Crokers, which he helped expand into steel products.
Alan was also philanthropic, giving a large sum that resulted in the Homefield Home for the Aged residence, and was a long-time member of Mackay Rotary Club.
Alan’s maternal grandfather, Joseph Norris, was Mackay’s first schoolteacher.
The Norris Family
Joseph Richard Norris opened the first Mackay school in September 15, 1871, now known as Mackay Central State School.
“(Then) Mackay could only be described as a tropical wilderness, but its attendant disabilities and trials did not deter a man his courage from energetically pursuing his work of educating the younger generation,” the Daily Mercury wrote after his death on April 25, 1915, the same year Mr Norris retired after serving as principal for 43 years.
One of Mr Norris’ first pupils was Richard Edward Jeffers, the “first white boy born in Mackay”.
Tragically, Mr Norris’s son with wife Julia, two-year-old Geoffrey Leopold, died in 1884.
Mackay North State High School has a sports house named in Norris’ honour.
The McLean Family
With Redcat Adventures recently launching its own tours to Mackay islands, it seemed timely to include the predecessor and inspiration, Captain Tom McLean, as a shaper of Mackay.
The tourism entrepreneur and former cane farmer and hotelier founded Roylen Cruises taking residents and tourists alike out to sea and to the Great Barrier Reef.
After lying about his age to serve in World War II, Mr Roylen bought US Army small ship, the Shangri-la and started charter cruises.
He then bought a former naval ship and named it the Roylen after two of his children Fitzroy and Helen.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 19 states the fleet grew as the next generation of McLean family joined the business.
Many a Mackay local may remember the train on Brampton Island.
The Roylen’s bought the island in 1962, holding it for two decades until they sold it to Trans-Australia Airlines in 1985 to focus on cruising.
The Rawson Family
Edmund Stansfeld Rawson arrived with his new bride Decima in August, 1875.
With elder brother Charles, they took up a lease in the Pioneer Valley running cattle on an area they named The Hollow.
Pioneer Valley Museum’s Leonie Fanning wrote the pair were instrumental in forming the Mackay Turf Club, with Edmund also on the committee for the creation of an Athletic Club.
Ms Fanning said Edmunds was also involved in politics and was an “enthusiastic supporter” of a separate North Queensland state.
The brothers also bought land opposite the hospital where they built a house and a slaughter yard.
Edmund partnered with Robert Martin to operate a wholesale butchers supplying meat at wholesale prices to the hospital.
Ms Fanning said Edmund also served on the Mackay District Hospital’s house, building and general purposes committees, as a councillor and as magistrate at Mackay District Court.
The Hayes Family
Elizabeth Ann Hayes, widely known as matron Hayes, founded the former Cromer Private Hospital on Shakespeare St.
One of the first residents of Bucasia, then known as Seaview — the nurse had a son named William Leslie Arthur James Haye with a man called Robert.
William became a jeweller before he went missing in action at Flanders during World War I.
The Cromer Hospital closed in 1948. YWCA bought the site and reopened it as the Cromer House Hostel for young women in the same year.
Hayes Lane in Mackay is named in William’s honour while Hayes Ave in Bucasia is named in Elizabeth’s honour.
The Sturgeon Family
The history of Mackay’s theatre scene cannot be read without mention of Jack Sturgeon.
He led a group of citizens in 1982 in a quest to build a larger entertainment centre for Mackay that would need a public contribution of $1 million.
Six years on, the then named Mackay Entertainment Centre in Alfred St was officially opened.
Mr Sturgeon co-founded the Mackay Musical Comedy Players and was a lifelong supporter of the arts in Mackay.
The North Jacklin Family
John North Jacklin began the now iconic North Jacklin dealership in April 1961 after working at Fields Motors as a car salesman.
It began at 148 Wood St with only two staff members, with Datsuns then the most popular car on the floor.
North Jacklin stated the business was sold to John Nash in 1999 who arrived in Mackay with his wife and three children.
The North Jacklin family was also influential to contributing funds for the building of Mackay Entertainment Centre.
The Wall Family
The Wall family is perhaps best associated with Don Wall’s butchery in West Mackay.
It was inside those walls a move benefiting cattle producers far and wide was born.
As a patron of the Mackay Show, Mr Wall hosted the first ever carcass competition at his shop in 1961.
“The interest generated helped to convince the State Government at that time to construct the Bakers Creek abattoir in 1965,” Mackay Show Association stated.
“Local cattle supplies could not provide an economic throughput so in 1967 the abattoir was sold to Borthwicks, a company who could transport in additional livestock.”
Mr Wall was also known for quietly helping out Mackay families and young kids in need.
The Hodge Family
Charlie Hodge founded Hodge Industries in 1914, reducing the costs on Mackay region farmers.
Hodge was the local agent for Allis Chalmers tractors and manufactured his own implements.
Still run by the family three generations and more than a century later, the Mackay manufacturer is a world-leader in the sugarcane industry, exporting machinery across the globe including to Asia, Africa and South America.
The Woodmans Family
The Woodmans family has operated hardware stores in Mackay for more than 40 years.
But in 2017, another Mackay family hardware chain, Porters, acquired four of its stores and rebranded them as Porters Mitre 10.
After the Woodmans Mitre 10 store in West Mackay closed the same year — not part of the acquisition — owner Kerry Woodman said they would refocus on the family’s other business.
That includes Bristol Decorator Centre, Mackay Timber and Truss, Mackay Glass & Aluminium, Woodman’s Roofing Centre, Mackay Brick Sales and a Trailers 2000 business.
The Searle Family
As well as Mackay’s business scene, Colin contributed to sport and was made a life member of Mackay Table Tennis for his work as president which included constructing extensions to the Bridge Rd playing centre.
Colin was also president of Saint Francis Xavier Primary School and St Patrick's College.
The brothers’ father, Bert Searle, owned a bakery business along Wood St which flourished for two decades and had a cordial factory in Sarina.
The Denny Family
Lynette Denny has been immersed in Mackay’s music, drama, voice, and dance scene for more than 50 years.
She owned her own performing arts studio in Mackay from 1964 up until 2007, now Studio 53 along Gregory St, and continued teaching thereafter on a freelance basis.
Mrs Denny also played a leading role in creating The Mackay Musical Comedy Players alongside fellow arts stalwart Jack Sturgeon.
Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre has named its performance space, The Lynette Denny Space, in her honour.
Former husband David Denny is the son of the namesake of Mackay’s Dudley Denny Library in the CBD.
David Denny, who gifted the The Dome building for the library to Mackay Regional Council, accompanied Mayor Greg Williamson to officially open it in 2017.
Both David and his father Dudley previously worked at a department store in the Dome as well as the family business, Fields.
The Cook Family
The Cook family was one of Mackay’s more well-connected, entertaining royalty and high ranking politicians during their long tenure in the region.
It managed vast estates from their Balnagowan plantation on the Pioneer River to cattle stations on the far side of Eton Range and had stakes in a partnership with Michelmore and Co which had pastoral interests in Lake Elphinstone, Goonyella and more.
The Cooks kept meticulous records which give insight into Mackay’s past with various diaries, letters and business documents spanning from 1860 to 1984.
People can imagine how the Cooks may have lived by visiting the Greenmount Homestead museum at Walkerston, with the home built for Albert and Vida Cook (nee Atherton) in 1915.
The land once belonged to Mackay’s first European settler, John Mackay.
Albert Cook was also into science and wrote a book shortly before his death about divining.
The Barron Family
Irish-born Edmund Barron and his brother Michael provided some of the buzz that swept across Mackay with an assortment of cordial and soft drink manufacturers.
Mackay historian Glen Hall writes Edmund opened one of the region’s first aerated water manufacturing businesses in 1869, before Michael joined creating the Barron Brothers.
“In 1883, Michael Barron acquired steam machinery and modern appliances for bottling the drinks,” Mr Hall writes.
“The original Barron Brothers cordial factory was located in Wood St on a site that is now occupied by a group of shops built after the Batros building was destroyed by fire in 2001.”
Michael eventually took over the business, adding wine and spirits to the catalogue, and after his death, his son Michael Jnr kept it going until the Robert Brothers acquired it followed by the Harrup Brothers.
The Barrons were highly respected in Mackay and known for their hospitality.
Michael was also a director of the Pioneer Permanent Building and Investment Society and a member of the Mackay branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society.
The Busuttin Family
The Busuttins contributed to the heydays of Mackay’s tourism market as proprietors of Brampton Island.
Mackay Historical Society’s Helen Martin wrote Joseph Busuttin was among the first Maltese descendants to settle in North Queensland.
Mrs Martin said Joseph and his wife Sarah had an occupation licence for St Bees Island before leasing Brampton Island in 1916 to breed horses for the Indian Army.
“Before World War II, the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef were viewed as remote by the general public and consequently accommodation and facilities for tourists was very sparse,” Mrs Martin said.
The Busuttins’ son Arthur married a woman named Jess and together they founded Brampton Island Resort and skippered cargo and passengers between the Pioneer River and Brampton, Lindeman Island and Bowen.
To read more, click here.
The Casey Family
Three generations of this Mackay family became politicians: Jack Casey, Edmund Casey and Edmund’s nephew, Kevin Casey.
The late Labor MP, and fellow Mackay politician, Tim Mulherin said Jack headed the region’s Labor Party from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Mr Mulherin said Edmund struck an interest in politics at a young age.
All three Caseys served as Mackay councillors, with Edmund also serving as deputy mayor from 1967 to 1970.
A bridge along Glenella Connection Rd is named in his honour as is Edmund Casey Dr at Mackay Harbour.
Do you know a family who deserves the spotlight for shaping Mackay? Let us know with a Letter to the Editor. Email mackay@news.com.au
Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested the Dudley Denny Mackay library was named after David Denny but in fact it was named after Dudley Denny, his father.
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