MacMahon, Philip (1857 - 1911)
Born on 13 December 1857 in Ireland; died on 12 April 1911 in Maryborough, Queensland.
OBITUARY, The Brisbane Courier, 15 April 1911, p.5:
"Death of Philip Mac Mahon
Friends of Mr Philip Mac Mahon, Director of Forests, received a shock on
Thursday moming when the news came through from Mary borough that he
had died there. He was, on a visit to the district with the object of reporting on
Fraser lsland, where there are large supplies of timber, and was taken ill at
Pialba. Before he could be removed to a hospital at Maryborough death
occured.
Mr Mac Mahon was bom on December 13, 1857, in Ireland He had a training
in general gardening and arboriculture at Kew Gardens, and afterwars went
out to India, where he served in the forestry department for a time. He then
came to Australia.
In 1899 Mr Mac Mahon met a ministerial party from
Queensland while in Victoria, and visited Mildura in company with the late
Hon. Hume Black. He also met the late Sir Thomas Mcllwraith in Melbourne,
with the result that an offer was made to him to come to Oueensland to organise
a forestry department. On his arrival the Oueensland Government was not
prepared to go on with the forestry department, and Mr Mac Mahon took up
the position of Director of the Botanic Gardens, a position which he occupied
until November 2 1905, when he became Director of Forests, and was
succeeded at the Botanic Gardens by Mr J Bailey.
Several vears ago,
Mr Mac Mahon was maried to Miss Hendy Pooley.
With limited staff at his command Mr Mac Mahon did good work in the Forestry Department, and under the policy
of the Govemment he was about to realise his hopes for an extension of the sphere of usefulness of his department,
when he was called away.
The funeral took place yesterday afternoon (our Maryborough corespondent wired last night), the remains being
interred in the Croydon Cemetery.
Mrs Mac Mahon returmed to Brisbane the same night.
The suddenness of
Mr Mac Mahon's death created a profound feeling of sympathy throughout the district."
Philip MacMahon was a prolific researcher
and writer. When he was the curator of the
Botanic Gardens he delivered lectures on
forestry to students of the Queensland
Agricultural College. These are presented in
the
1904
issues of the Queensland
Agricultural Journal.
Perhaps his most
important and best well-known work is the
105-page book 'The Merchantable Timbers of
Queensland with special reference to their
uses for railway sleepers, railway carriage
and wagon building and engineering work', that
was printed in 1905 and issued under the
authority of the
Secretary of Agriculture.
At the time there was
huge demand overseas
for sleepers and
Queensland's timbers were not that well
known. Most of the demand for sleepers to
South Africa was met by New South Wales
and the Secretary
of Agriculture wanted
Queensland to be considered for the export
Contracts. This definitive work on the wood
prperties of Queensland's timbers led to a huge export market for sleepers to South Africa
and India.
Source: Extracted from:
The Brisbane Courier, 15 April 1911, p.5: (via Trove)
Huth, J. (2022) 'As We Were - prose, poetry and people, from Queensland's Forest History', p.178-179.
Portrait Photo: 'As We Were' p.178 (above).
Collecting localities for 'MacMahon, P.' from AVH (2024)
Data from 16 specimens
