The eldest of eight children, George Mackaness was born and educated in Sydney where he began teaching at Fort Street Public School in 1903. In 1911 he completed his MA with honours in English while studying part-time at the University of Sydney. In 1912 he was appointed master of English and deputy headmaster of Fort Street Boys High School, where he was encouraged to develop a new approach to teaching English. As well as reading the classics, Mackaness was keen for his students to appreciate Australian literature. His 1928 publication Inspirational Teaching embodying his methods won international recognition. From 1924-26 Mackaness lectured in the department of English at Teachers College, Sydney and by the 1930s was a major figure in Sydney literary circles. He had a long and distinguished career as educationist, historian, author, bibliographer and bibliophile, receiving honorary degrees from the universities of Sydney and Melbourne and an OBE in 1938. He was president of the Royal Australian Historical Society (1948-49) and president of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (1931-4). He published widely in journals and newspapers and privately published the series of Australian Historical monographs. His interest in historical research led to his book collecting which by the 1960s formed a massive collection of Australiana. His publications include biographies of William Bligh and Arthur Phillip, and several anthologies of verse and prose including
Australian Short Stories (1928),
The Wide Brown Land (1934) (in collaboration with his daughter) and two collections of his articles and essays,
The Art of Book-Collecting in Australia (1956) and
Bibliomania : An Australian Book Collectors' Essays (1965).
