Queer Places:
Sarjeant Art Gallery, Whanganui 4500, New Zealand
Charles
Ewing Mackay (later known as Charles Evan Mackay) was born in Nelson, New
Zealand, on 29 June 1875, the son of Joseph Mackay and his wife, Jessie
Wilkie. Joseph taught mathematics at Nelson College, and from 1881 to 1891 was
headmaster of Wellington College. Charles was a pupil there from 1883 to 1890,
then studied at Canterbury College on a Junior Scholarship. A brilliant
student, he graduated BA in 1895 and LLB in 1900. He was called to the Bar in
New Plymouth in 1901, and the following year established his own law firm in
Wanganui. There on 20 January 1904 he married Isobel Mary Agnes Duncan, who
was from a prominent Wanganui family; the couple had a daughter and a son.
Mackay entered local politics in 1904, serving first on the Mataongaonga
Road Board and gaining election to the Wanganui Borough Council in November
1905. In April 1906 he successfully contested the mayoralty, holding office
until 1913, and again from 1915 until 1920. He stood for Parliament as an
independent candidate for Wanganui in the 1908 and 1911 elections; though
unsuccessful, he remained popular in local affairs.
Mackay was a controversial and energetic mayor who was responsible for much
of the growth and development of Wanganui in the years between 1906 and 1920.
His projects were frequently expensive but always farsighted. He advocated the
building of an electric tramway system for Wanganui, improved the town's
roading, water supply and fire services, and was instrumental in having the
Dublin Street Bridge erected. He ensured the incorporation of the outlying
areas of Aramoho and Wanganui East within the borough boundaries, and worked
continuously to encourage the development of the port and local industry.
His principal project from 1915 was the construction of an art gallery for
Wanganui, using the bequest of Henry Sarjeant. He instigated a competition for
the building's design (which was won by the Dunedin firm of Edmund Anscombe),
promoted a purchasing policy for the gallery, wrote tirelessly to galleries
and collectors abroad soliciting works and reproductions, and confronted the
Department of Education over the acquisition of land for the site. He later
persuaded the military authorities to defer the posting overseas of one of the
architects, Donald Hosie, until the gallery's working drawings had been
completed. Hosie was killed at Passchendaele (Passendale) in October 1917,
three weeks after the foundation stone for the Sarjeant Gallery was laid.
During the First World War Mackay's popularity suffered in some quarters.
He did not serve in the military forces, and his relations with the Wanganui
Returned Soldiers' Association were to be less than cordial. The mutual
hostility came to a head during preparations for the visit in 1920 of the
prince of Wales, when Mackay opposed the RSA's plan to hold their own
welcoming ceremony. The royal visit of 3 May took place in an atmosphere of
considerable acrimony. Unperturbed, Mackay had turned his attention to
promoting the construction of a library and museum to complement the gallery.
He had also begun investigating the possibility of a power station for the
borough. But his introduction to the writer
Walter D'Arcy Cresswell on 10 May
1920 was to change his future prospects dramatically.
Cresswell was a returned soldier who had come from his home in Timaru to
visit relatives near Wanganui. The two men became friendly and met on several
occasions. On 15 May after an argument at his office Mackay shot and seriously
wounded Cresswell. It was later alleged that Mackay had made homosexual
advances to Cresswell, who then attempted to extract a letter of confession
and resignation from the mayor. Cresswell stated that he had led Mackay on,
'to make sure of his dirty intentions'. Mackay was arrested and charged with
attempted murder; he pleaded guilty, acknowledging the factual truth of an
unsworn evidential statement that Cresswell made from his hospital bed. No
defence was called, though a plea in mitigation was made when Mackay was
sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, which he began serving in Mount Eden
prison.
After his imprisonment Mackay's wife petitioned for divorce and returned to
her maiden name, the street called after him had its name changed, and
reference to him was deleted from the foundation stone of the Sarjeant Gallery
and not restored until 1985. His portrait was removed from the Borough Council
chambers and destroyed. No mention of him or his services to Wanganui appeared
in any local history for the next 50 years.
Charles Mackay was reportedly released from prison in August 1926 and went
to England. By 1928 he was working as a journalist for the Sunday Express,
possibly on the recommendation of the expatriate New Zealand writer
Hector
Bolitho. From later 1928 he was a correspondent in Berlin, and was covering
the street battles between communist irregulars and the police in the
Neukölln-Hermannplatz district when he was shot dead by a policeman –
apparently as a result of a misunderstanding – on the night of 3 May 1929. The
German foreign office expressed regret to his family, and his death was widely
reported in New Zealand, though only brief mention was made of his earlier
achievements.
The sensational nature of Mackay's disgrace in 1920 all but expunged from
local history a career of considerable public service. The expansion of
Wanganui's boundaries, its commercial and residential services, and its
cultural facilities, came about largely through the efforts and influence of
Charles Mackay.
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
-
W. S. Broughton. 'Mackay, Charles Ewing', Dictionary of New Zealand
Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New
Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m14/mackay-charles-ewing
(accessed 13 January 2020)