“If not you, then who?” with Clancy MacKay

You listen to Clancy Mackay speak and you wouldn’t believe that he is only 27 years old. Clancy has fit a lot into his life, we’ve joked that he has lived for 10 men. His story is remarkable, his perspective enlightening and his mindset is inspiring.

A true child of the bush, his parents bought a bare block in the Northern Territory and “pulled in a caravan”. They set about building a life on the remote station for themselves and their three sons.

“There was no power, no water, no telephone, and that's how we lived for the first few years until we could build a house.” 

“So I remember growing up rough, like to me it wasn't rough, it was normal, but it was just the freedom and the things we used to do when were kids was unbelievable”

Clancy and his brothers would do School of the Air from 8-11am over the UHF radio and spend the afternoons running wild in a way of life that was just normal to them.

“Looking back, it's amazing that we didn't get eaten by crocs. Like Johnno [Clancy’s brother] and I did the silliest things down in that river, fishing and just swimming in little muddy holes off the edge of the water, like you're so stupid.”

Clancy’s childhood home in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Although great fun, Clancy’s parents believed their boys needed to be more exposed and be around other kids. So, they shifted from their remote part of the world and moved down to Goondiwindi on the NSW/QLD border to experience ‘normal’ schooling.

Clancy now reflects on his time at school and titles himself, “a wild little fella”. He was suspended multiple times and eventually was asked to leave boarding school at age 15.

His Granny Rose recommended him go to Longreach Ag college for some more hands-on education. Back to his roots, Clancy started working horses and cattle and reignited his hunger for the bush. College also gave him the opportunity to start dipping his toes into the rodeo scene which he would later go on to pursue in the USA.

Arriving in the States and riding like clock-work, Clancy was determined to win a buckle and show he had what it takes. Western Texas College saw how much he really wanted it and offered him a scholarship which set him up.

“Basically a lot of the schools (colleges) in the south have a rodeo team. So basically, they give you a scholarship or you'd pay to go to the school and we used to all study Boilermakering because they'd give us 13 points or something which was enough points to be on the rodeo team.”

Six months into college in the US, Clancy received a phone call from back home that would change his life forever. His dad had been diagnosed with cancer.

“It started off as a little sun cancer in his ear and they'd cut it out and then they sent away and said all we got it all and whatnot, but they had missed the tiniest bit, it basically followed the nerve over the top of his brain and then just spread.”

Despite his dad encouraging him to stick it out in the States and make the most of the opportunity, Clancy quickly tore home to Australia to be with his family.

With the cancer quickly taking its toll, Clancy and his brothers knew they had to set their dad up with a base while he was going through treatment.

“I was like, ‘how can I make money really quick, using the stuff I know to help the old man out?’.”

With the motivation to support his dad, Clancy obtained his chopper license in a record four months, which he then used to muster cattle right across Northern Australia, eventually getting into catching feral buffalo and collecting crocodile eggs. The brothers set their dad up while his health deteriorated in his battle with cancer.

In 2020, Clancy’s dads health took a turn for the worst. The cancer had moved into his throat and a once strong and fit man, he no longer could communicate with his friends and family.

As his health deteriorated further, the boys moved their old man into hospital care where he refused to be placed with a feeding tube, instead opting to starve himself for 15 days, passing away just after his 73rd birthday.

At the time, Clancy was on a trip snow boarding in Japan, encouraged by his Dad to stick it out and enjoy himself overseas.

His final conversations with his dad were actually over text. Texts that Clancy still holds onto to this day.

His dad had already given Clancy his stockmanship and work ethic, but his final texts to Clancy was about fatherhood and Clancy’s future.

“I sent one back and I said ‘Listen old man, I'm lost, I've been flying for a few years now and I just dunno what I want to do and whatnot’

and he said ‘Mate it will all come, just keep going forward you know, and chase whatever you want to chase’ and then that was it, didn't talk to him didn't hear from him again.”

Again returning to his core, Clancy returned to northern Australia mustering, catching buffalo and collecting croc eggs. He had a lot of time alone with his thoughts while flying the helicopter,

“It took a year after my old man died to really overcome that depression and basically now it's changed who I was, some people say ‘Oh people don't change’ but they do, it's up to them to change, you can either sulk about it or use that to your advantage.”

Clancy overcame his challenges with an extraordinary mindset that he has developed,

“You got to gotta bloody get used to being on your own and dealing with your own problems and whatnot and yeah, get help if you're having trouble with it, but you know, you just got to back yourself, I back myself to a T, you know, I'll fight until I die”

Identifying that their were certain skills that he required for the trajectory he wanted his future to go, Clancy sought out the advice of close family friends and mentors the McGavin brothers, well known in the agriculture sector for their respective busineses Cobram Estate and Laguna Bay.

Clancy is now six months into his Diploma at Marcus Oldham with plans of, upon graduating, setting up his own business to support how work teams are run up north.

“So my school is going to be very different what's going on up there I'm going to teach these guys a lot more about communicating and working men and getting the ego out of it.

My passion lies in educating cattle, helping educate people and training horses…that's what I love doing. So to bring all those three things together will be next level for me”.