Mac's aviation story wasn't the objective of meeting with him, but it is hard to write about Kyeema without writing a little about Mac. His story is intertwined with Kyeema's, and it's interesting!

In the closing months of the war Mac joined the Air Force, but this isn't where he learnt to fly. In his 20's, with the war over, Mac was able to realise his dream and his aviation life began in the cockpit of a Tiger Moth. Aren't Tiger Moth's notoriously difficult to fly?, I asked. A grin spread across Mac's face, "People say that," he said.

His first job in aviation was piloting an aircraft known as a De Havilland Dragon for the Flying Doctor Service, (today the RFDS) in SA. "It was daunting to be the pilot of the Dragon at first," Mac said, "it was the first aeroplane type I had flown without dual controls. There was no-one in the seat next to me and you really had to fly those planes. It had no such thing as an automatic pilot."

It was through the Flying Doctor work that Mac met Esma, a pharmacist for the Service and now, his wife. Mac and Esma have a lovely photograph of themselves on the way to their wedding, taken on the steps of the Dragon. Obviously the passion for things aeronautical runs deep.

In 1964, Mac was appointed to the Department of Civil Aviation in air safety investigation. He has always had an interest in how accidents have shaped the current airline system, and this is where the link with Mac, the Hills and Kyeema takes flight (apologies for the bad pun!) and where we leave Mac's story.

This meeting with Mac was to talk about Kyeema, but I get the feeling Mac Job's own story is well worth listening to and documenting. It must also have been no small feat for Esma to find herself as the pharmacist in the Australian outback. Perhaps Mac and Esma will be kind enough to share more at some time in the future.

Sue: story & photography

Thank you, Mac, for taking the time to reminisce with theHillsOnline.

If you or someone you know have a story to tell about the Hills, please email theHillsOnline team. We would love to hear from you.

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When first meeting Macarthur (Mac) Job, you would swear he had lived in the Hills all his life, such is the breadth of his knowledge about Kyeema. Mac's history of involvement in the Hills goes back more than thirty years, but he and his wife Esma have been residents for just two of these.

With a love for aviation, a good dose of curiosity and perhaps a passion for adventure driving him along, Mac headed up a team that uncovered the facts around a significant Hills event that had far reaching effects on Australian aviation.

Mac has been in aviation all his life. From the age of five, where he first saw an aeroplane land in a paddock near his NSW home, he was hooked. The passion to fly took hold.