William Alexander Mackinnon

Mackinnon was a signatory of the Third annual report of the Colonization Commissioners (Parliamentary Papers 1839 (255) XVII) but not of the others; (there were four in all).

The Commissioners were appointed in May 1835 and dismissed, in December 1839, by Lord John Russell. They were appointed under the terms of the South Australia Colonisation Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV c. 95). The purpose was to provide for the development of lands and colonial government in South Australia. The initiative for the Act lay with the South Australian Association with the aid of George Grote, William Molesworth and the Duke of Wellington, and embodied many of the ideas of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. It was repealed in 1842 by the South Australia Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict c. 61) which followed a Parliamentary enquiry into the failure of the colonial administration which had brought South Australia near to bankruptcy in 1840. For the enquiry see First and second reports from the Select Committee on South Australia. PP1841 (119) IV & PP1841 (394) IV. Chaired by Sir George Grey.