BIDDLECOMBE SOCIETY

He sat his Leaving Certificate in 1938 and followed up with Leaving Honours in Maths and Physics in 1939. “A very good boy – with some brains,” noted his school record card. He went up to Trinity College at The University of Melbourne to study Agricultural Science, but the war intervened and, like most of his friends, Bill interrupted his studies to answer the call of duty. He enlisted in the RAAF – the technology and relative comfort of the air arm of the military appealed – and after several months training as a bomb-aimer he was commissioned as an Air Observer (navigator/bomb aimer). He was posted to Bundaberg where his crew operated anti-submarine patrols above the waters off Fraser Island where convoys of ships came in, and later joined 66 Squadron at Laverton, flying in Avro Ansons monitoring Bass Strait for submarines. He then learnt to use the bombsight in the big B-24 Liberators based out of Tocumwal and was posted to Darwin to fly with an American squadron to gain combat experience around Sulawesi in Indonesia. In these duties, he was “completely dependable and successful” noted his record. Fortunately, Bill’s war ended with him having had only one brush with danger when a Japanese Zero put a bullet through the Liberator’s fuselage.

Bill returned to his Agricultural Science studies, graduating in 1947. He worked for four years for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) doing farm management surveys relating to the sheep industry. He then worked briefly for Heinz, and from 1953 to 1983 he was with Commonwealth Fertilizers, which merged with ICI in 1961, a job which took him all over Australia. He was Field Research Manager at Merrindale Research Station in Croydon, supervising crop protection research and overseeing the work of John Landy (M’48), who was the then Research and Technology Manager. By this time, Bill had two sons, Bill junior (FB’71) and Alistair (FB’82), and two daughters, Fiona and Merran, with his wife Kathleen, who he had met during their university years. Regular trips to Europe from the 1970s onwards were a highly enjoyable part of these working and early retirement years, especially following the trail of his paternal great uncle, the renowned Scottish artist Charles H Mackie (his grandfather’s brother), and other antecedents.

A long life bestows the benefit of vast perspective, and Bill is well-placed to assess the effect of his Geelong Grammar School education on his life. “It gave me a broader understanding of what goes on in the world – it was a very good general education,” he said. He has never taken the privilege of his education for granted. In 1934, during the Depression, the pastoral company that Bill’s father used to sell his wool and livestock went bust. “He was very afraid he would not be able to pay the school fees,” recalled Bill. “He drove to Corio and went to see James Darling. Darling said, ‘Don’t worry about it, do the best you can, and we’ll keep Bill going at Geelong’.” This kindness has never been forgotten by Bill, who made the decision many years ago to leave a bequest to the School in his Will. “I felt I owed the school something in return for what Darling did in 1934.”

It is humbling to understand that a gesture that made a difference to someone so long ago will pay dividends to Geelong Grammarians of the future. Bill celebrated his 100th birthday on 25 January this year at a happy family lunch, at which his many cards of congratulation and well wishes – including, of course, one from Her Majesty The Queen – were proudly displayed. Perhaps in 2122 there will be another OGG celebrating their 100th birthday – someone who only received a GGS education because of the generosity of bequests left by people like Bill Mackie. Thank you Bill, and hearty congratulations on your centenary.

1. Centenarian members of the Biddlecombe Society, Barb Parsons, Bill Mackie (P’39) and Boz Parsons (M’36) 2. Bill Mackie (P’39) attending the Biddlecombe Society luncheon with daughter, Fiona Saunders