Tracker - James Gillis McDonald

James was born 26 January1872 in the area of Lahey's Creek to Eliza (nee McNabb) and Thomas (Tommy) McDonald.

James Falconer employed Thomas as a shepherd and when Eliza died, Thomas left the district and left his son with the Falconer family. The family treated him well and as he grew was employed as a drover and sheepherder, taking mobs of sheep to Sydney to the markets.

As a young man he was very athletic, running in many events and winning the Botany Handicap.

When he was nineteen he joined the New South Wales Police Force and was posted to Coborra, then Mudgee, Wollar and finally Rylstone. He was the first Wiradjuri tracker in Mudgee. His career lasted 40 years. His wife Harriet (Cooper) bore him 11 children. He died on 17 April 1937 in his sleep at home in Perry Street, Mudgee and is buried in the Salvation Section of the Mudgee Cemetery. Row B, plot 50. Harriet died in 1860 in Campsie.

His career speaks for itself with his involvement in the tracking of Jessie Hickman (bushranger),

Below, Tommy as a young man in Police uniform.