Hi Shirley, I am not responsible for the research on the Convict Trail website, I am just the contact person. RE the name MacDonald River. This river was known as the Second Branch or the Branch for a number of years. There is an old map showing the positions of the farmers along the river which it names the as Second Branch unfortunate I do not know the date of this map or the State Records reference for it, it had H 1679 written on it in several places. Of the names I can make out none are MacDonald. The first reference I have found to the river being called MacDonald is Mrs Felton Mathews wife of the surveyor who when writing in 1833 called the river the MacDonald. In 1820 in letters to the Governor about a land grant it was called The Branch. In the 1828 census people living up the Macdonald gave their place of Residence as Lower Portland Head but this area also referred to Wisemans Ferry and up and down the Hawkesbury for some distance. The 1848 Wells Gazetter has no reference for MacDonald River, it does list most other rivers, but it does list the Macdonald Police District and in the map of that district the river is named MacDonald. I doubt if the river is named after the convict who found the track to Cooranbong now known as Simpsons Track Given the naming pattens of the time it more likely to have been named after an obsecure Government official or a relations of the Felton Matthews. You have set me a challenge. Does any one have an earlier primary reference to that river being called the Macdonald than Mrs Felton Mathew in 1833 or a later reference than my 1820 reference to it being called the Branch. Regards Elizabeth Roberts -----Original Message----- From: Shirley McLeod [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: MacDonald River Hi All Thanks for those who took the time to answer my question on the naming of the MacDonald River. I am still not quite sure. Elizabeth Roberts on her 'Convict Trail website' has a couple of pages on a John MacDonald who was born in Ireland and sentenced in Scotland to life for theft. He arrived in Sydney on December 28 1820 on 'Asia' and was assigned to Robert Crawford. During that time he became friendly with Aboriginals and they taught him the various tracks. He was with Crawford for 9 years and then received his ticket of leave for discovering a new route. His ticket of leave was cancelled and he was sent to Newcastle. In 1834 he had become a bushranger and lived with Aboriginals where he raided properties and was shot that year at the age of about 31. If Elizabeth is correct I tend to think that he was the person after whom the MacDonald River etc was probably named. This is the website. http://www.convicttrail.org/ Shirley McLeod [email protected]