Alexander Macdonald

Alexander Macdonald was an author and filmmaker who wrote one of the earliest dramatic novels to mention black opal mining. Macdonald was born on 3 October 1877 at St. Ninians, Stirlingshire, Scotland, the son of John and Margery Macdonald. By the turn of the century he had headed to the Klondike goldfields in Alaska, gaining experience as a prospector and explorer before moving to Australia.

Macdonald first appears at Lightning Ridge in the 1913 census, recorded as a miner, one of many drawn to the new opal fields. In the years that followed he became quite an adventurous entrepreneur, investing in mineral projects across Queensland. He took up leases around Chillagoe and Mungana and developed molybdenite deposits at Khartum under the banner of Macdonald Kitchener Mines Limited. The businesses were not overly succesful, with the Khartum mine collapsing due to overmining.

Macdonald became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and authored more than a dozen books about travel and adventure, often drawing on his experiences in rural Australia, New Guinea, and Tibet. The Quest of the Black Opals (1908), The Hidden Nugget (1909), and In Search of El Dorado (1905) are a few examples.

During the 1920s Macdonald developed his skills in filmmaking. He produced The Unsleeping Eye (1928), shot in New Guinea, and The Kingdom of Twilight (1929), filmed on location at Chillagoe.

Alexander Macdonald died on 22 March 1939 at Rose Bay, Sydney, aged 61.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. Sources: The Quest of the Black Opals, Alexander Macdonald, 1908; ‘Old MacDonald had a film, years and years ago’, Industry Queensland, 22 April 2019; ‘Chillagoe Notes’, Cairns Post, 8 January 1932, p. 6.