Ian Murray Mackerras

Who was Ian Murray Mackerras?

Ian Murray Mackerras was an Australian zoologist.

Mackerras was born in Balclutha, New Zealand to James Murray Mackerras, and Elizabeth Mary, both farmers. His parents separated and Ian and brother Alan lived with their mother in Sydney. Ian was educated at Sydney Grammar School, matriculating in 1915.

On 17 December 1915 Mackerras enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force after advancing his age. He was designated laboratory attendant in IHS Karoola on 19 December 1915. He later saw action in France and was gassed on 28 May 1918. He returned to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on 13 April 1919.

Mackerras studied medicine at the University of Sydney in April 1919 but soon switched to zoology. In March 1924 Mackerras graduated MB, ChM, BSc, with First Class Honours in Zoology, the University Medal in Zoology, and shared the John Coutts Scholarship.

Mackerras was awarded the Linnean Macleay Fellowship in Zoology in 1925. He wrote papers on the flies Nemestrinidae and Mydaidae. From January 1927 he worked at the Bureau of Microbiology of the New South Wales Department of Public Health.

In 1928 the newly founded Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was looking for entomologists. Mackerras joined the new organisation on 1 December 1928 and soon moved his family to Canberra. He worked on the buffalo fly and sheep blow-fly problems.