- Newspaper proprietor
In May 1851, Angus Mackay visited the Ophir and other goldfields in New South Wales as a special correspondent to the Empire and in 1852 became the newspaper’s parliamentary reporter. From March to October 1853, having become a prospector on the Ovens fields, Mackay continued as a special correspondent with the paper. He spoke at a meeting held on the diggings to voice the miners' grievances and, in October, appeared as a delegate before the select committee on the goldfields, speaking strongly against the licence fee. Mackay then moved to Bendigo where, during a year as special correspondent to the Argus, he reported the occurrence of the many rushes in that district. On 30 November 1861, he married Margaret O'Shannassy at Fitzroy (a suburb of Melbourne); they had three sons and three daughters.
He later purchased the Bendigo Advertiser and in 1863 established the McIvor Times. As a newspaper editor and proprietor at Bendigo, Mackay took a keen interest in local affairs. His industrial radicalism was apparent in his commitment to the miners' campaign to introduce an eight-hour working day.