Education

Sydney Grammar School (1950-4)

University of Sydney (BA, Psychology, Philosophy, 1962)

Macquarie University (MA, Philosophy, 1991)

Honorary Degrees & Awards

Doctor of Letters (Charles Sturt University, 1995)

Doctor of Letters (Macquarie University, 1999)

Doctor of Letters (University of New South Wales, 2002)

Doctor of Letters (Western Sydney University, 2010)

Doctor of Letters (University of Wollongong, 2016)

Hartnett Medal, Royal Society of Arts (2004)

Alumni Award for Community Service, University of Sydney (2004)

Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia (2015) 

Employment History

1955-8 McNair Surveys (now ACNielsen)

1959 Toowoomba Grammar School (teacher & housemaster)

1960-2 Australian Broadcasting Commission (Audience Research)

1963-70 George Patterson/founded Consensus Research, 1966

1971- Hugh Mackay Pty Limited (formerly Mackay Research Pty Limited), incorporating The Centre for Communication Studies, 1974-1994

Professional Associations

Fellow, Australian Psychological Society

Associate Fellow, British Psychological Society

Fellow, Royal Society of NSW

Honorary Positions Held

2013-23 Patron, The Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney

2014-16 Board Member, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra

2013-17 Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Arts, Charles Sturt University

2011-18 Honorary Professor of Social Science, University of Wollongong

2006-16 Bell Shakespeare Artistic Advisory Panel

2003-5 Chairman, ACT Community Inclusion Board

2002-8 Chairman, Board of Management, Associate Degree in Policing Practice, Charles Sturt University/NSW Police 

1998-2015 Sydney Peace Prize Advisory Committee; (Jury 1999-2004)

1995-2006 Visiting Professor, Macquarie Graduate School of Management

1993-2003 Trustee, Sydney Grammar School (Chairman, 2001-03)

1994-6 Australia Council (Deputy Chair, 1995-6)

1992 Ethics Committee, Law Society of NSW

1989-95 Foundation Member, Board of Management, The St James Ethics Centre (Consulting Fellow, 1996-2002)

1983-92 National Education Committee, National Heart Foundation

2020 -    Honorary Professor, Research School of Psychology, ANU

Named Lectures

Australia Day Address (2019)

The Burgmann Lecture (Burgmann College, ANU, 2018)

The Gandhi Oration (UNSW, 2017)

Marion Mahony Griffin Memorial Lecture (Glenaeon School, 2014) 

William Merrylees Memorial Lecture (Charles Sturt University, 2010)

George Shipp Memorial Lecture (WEA 2010) 

Australian Psychological Society Inaugural Annual Oration (2008)

National Trust (NSW) Annual Lecture (2008)

Sydney Ideas Lecture (2008)

Sir John Monash Memorial Lecture (2008)

St George’s Cathedral Lecture (2007)

The University Lecture, ADFA (2006)

Eddie Mabo Memorial Lecture (2005)

Manning Clark Lecture (2005)

The New College Lectures, UNSW (2001)

Dame Roma Mitchell Oration (1997)

The St James Ethics Centre Annual Lecture (1996)

Publications

Books – Non-fiction 

The Way We Are  Allen & Unwin 2024

The Kindness Revolution  Allen & Unwin 2021

The Inner Self  Macmillan, 2020

Australia Reimagined  Macmillan, 2018

Beyond Belief   Macmillan, 2016

The Art of Belonging   Macmillan, 2014

The Good Life   Macmillan, 2013

Why Don’t People Listen?  Pan, 1994 (revised and republished as an e-book, 2013) 

What Makes Us Tick? The ten desires that drive us  Hachette, 2010 (third edition, 2019)

Advance Australia … where?   Hachette, 2007

Right & Wrong: How to decide for yourself   Hodder, 2004 (third edition, 2019)

Media Mania   The 2001 New College Lectures: UNSW Press, 2002

Turning Point   Macmillan, 1999

Generations   Macmillan, 1997

Reinventing Australia   Angus & Robertson, 1993

Books - Fiction

The Therapist Allen & Unwin 2023

The Question of Love  Macmillan, 2020

Selling the Dream  Macmillan, 2017

Infidelity  Macmillan, 2013

Ways of Escape  Hachette, 2009

Winter Close  Hodder, 2002

The Spin  Pan, 1999

House Guest  Picador, 1997

Little Lies  Picador, 1996

The Mackay Report 

The Mackay Report, a continuous program of qualitative social research, was established in 1979. Quarterly reports were published for 25 years, until the project was purchased by Ipsos Australia in 2003 and renamed The Ipsos Mackay Report. Hugh Mackay’s association with the project ceased in 2006. 

In the period 1979-2006, over 120 reports were published on such topics as community attitudes to politics, mass media, corporate ethics, shopping, marriage & the family, as well as studies of stages in the life-cycle, the national mood, etc.

Other Publications

‘On The Madness of Year 12’, Meanjin Quarterly, Vol 77, Issue 2, 2018

‘Australia’s Political Undertow’, East Asia Forum Quarterly, Vol 8, No 4, 2016

‘The unfocused group discussion technique’, invited commentary in Australasian Journal of Market and Social Research, Vol 20, No 2, 2012

‘A stir from slumber: waking up or just rolling over?’ in Tony Jones (ed.), The Best Australian Political Writing, Melbourne University Press, 2008

Introduction to the sixth edition of Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country, Penguin, 2007

‘The question is: are we up to it?’ in Sally Warhaft (ed.), Well may we say: the speeches that made Australia, Black Inc., 2004

‘Hugh Mackay’ in John Marsden (ed.), I Believe This, Random House, 2004

‘National Identity?  Wait and See’ in Where to Now? Australia’s Identity in the Nineties, Federation Press, 1993

‘The Illusion of the Global Village’ in Transactions of the Menzies Foundation, Vol 9, 1985

The Management of Communication, a series of videotape lectures supported by a program workbook, The Centre for Communication Studies, 1984

Better Communication, audio cassette tape series, co-presented with Caroline Jones, The Centre for Communication Studies, 1981

The Communication Climate in Australian Organisations, Australian Institute of Management, 1980

‘Australian Psychologists in Marketing and Communication Research’ in Nixon & Taft (eds), Psychology in Australia, Pergamon, 1977

‘Public Opinion’ in JDS Potts (ed), Public Relations Practice in Australia, McGraw Hill, 1976

Contributions to the media

NEWSPAPER COLUMNS:

2004-             Occasional op-ed pieces and essays, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

2004-7           Weekly ‘Moral Maze’ column, The Sun-Herald and The West Australian 

1999-2003    Weekly column on social issues, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The West Australian

1994-8          Weekly column on social issues, The Weekend Australian

1993-4          Weekly column on social issues, Australian Financial Review

1979-82        Weekly ‘Persuasion’ column, The National Times/BRW

RADIO & TV:

Regular and occasional appearances as commentator on social and political issues on ABC radio and TV