Editorial: Time to complete Charles Mackay's redemption

Whanganui mayor Charles Mackay was imprisoned for attempted murder in 1920.

The Whanganui District Council review of how streets are named is a timely opportunity to advocate for some long overdue civic redemption - the reinstatement of Mackay St.

Until 1920 Mackay St cut its way from Anzac Parade through Whanganui East and, while it remains there today, we now call it Jellicoe St.

It's hard to think of a civic leader who had more influence on the Whanganui we have today than the person for whom the street was originally named.

Charles Mackay was just 31 when he became Whanganui mayor and, between 1906 and 1920, the list of municipal projects he helped instigate include the Sarjeant Gallery, the city's tramway and the Dublin St Bridge.

His council also brought Whanganui East and Aramoho into the city boundary.

Mackay was a visionary who laid the foundation for what became some of Whanganui's most prosperous decades. He didn't muck around.

Unfortunately, when poet Walter D'Arcy Cresswell tried to blackmail him into resigning by threatening to expose his homosexuality he didn't muck around then either, firing a revolver into Cresswell's chest.

He was imprisoned after pleading guilty to attempted murder and Whanganui set about removing the Mackay name from its history.

It's been written that changing Mackay St to Jellicoe St that year was a post-war gesture to honour Governor General Lord Jellicoe but the timing makes one wonder.

But as societal attitudes changed concern about his rumoured homosexuality faded and, though he remains a convicted criminal, history tends to have more sympathy for a man who felt he was boxed into a corner.

Mackay St was renamed Jellicoe St in 1920. Photo / Bevan Conley

Almost a century has passed and over time Mackay's name has slowly returned to where it once was.

It has long been back on the Sarjeant Gallery foundation stone where it was once scrubbed off and his portrait has been rehung in the council chamber.

Reverting Jellicoe St back to Mackay St would be ideal but the council's policy discourages renaming existing roads except for practical or cultural reasons.

But when it comes time to name a new street Mackay's name should be first off the rack.

At a time Whanganui is restoring some of his key projects to ensure they are around for another century what better way to honour Charles Mackay's contribution to this city than by completing his redemption.