William Mackie

Who was William Mackie?

William Henry Mackie was an early settler of the Swan River Colony holding a number of public positions including that of the first Judge of the colony. Mackie was born at Cochin, India and as a child returned to live in Derry before attending school in Twickenham, Middlesex. He later entered Trinity College, Cambridge and became a member of the Inner Temple in November 1822.

He arrived at Fremantle on the Caroline on 12 October 1829 with two servants, John Bludsell and Richard Holland. Mackie was a cousin of Captain Frederick Irwin who was the commandant of the troops in the colony and who had arrived on the Sulphur four months earlier.

Mackie and Irwin acquired two large land grants in the new colony, jointly taking up 3240 acres at Henley Park in the Upper Swan and another 7000 acres between Beverley and York.

Mackie's legal background saw him appointed as one of eight Justices of the Peace by Lieutenant-Governor Stirling in December 1829. In October 1831 Stirling appointed Mackie as one of the foundation members of the Western Australian Legislative Council in the position of Advocate-General. In June 1834 he resigned from the Council and became the Commissioner of the Civil Court, thus presiding over the civil and criminal courts of the colony.