Life and career
Colin Mackerras was the twin brother of the psephologist Malcolm Mackerras. He was also the brother of the conductor Charles Mackerras (1925–2010) and the barrister and social campaigner Neil Mackerras (1930–1987).
He was raised Catholic and pursued an MA degree at the University of Cambridge. In 1964 he went with his wife, Alyce Mackerras, for the first time to China. Their first son was born there. Mackerras taught in Beijing until 1966 at the Foreign Language Institute (now Beijing Foreign Studies University), returning in 1986, 2005, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2010 and 2011–12. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy by the Australian National University in 1970.
Mackerras was chair professor and research scholar at the Australian National University in 1966–1969. He was a professor at the School of Modern Asian Studies at Griffith University in 1974–2004. At Griffith he served as chair of the School of Modern Asian Studies (1979–1985) and later as head of the school (1988–1989, 1996–2000). From 2004 he was professor emeritus at the Department of International Business and Asian Studies (Griffith University).
He was a member of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (president, 1992–95) and Chinese Studies Association (president, 1991–93). He was also Patron of the Queensland History Teachers’ Association (QHTA).
The scholar Liu Siyuan said that Mackerras' scholarship on theatre in China made him a founder of the field and successor to A. C. Scott and praised him as "an historian whose extensive scholarship on Chinese theatre forms part of his wide-ranging publications on Chinese and Asian history." Liu went on to say that Mackerras is "rightly hailed as rivaling some of the most outstanding Chinese and Japanese scholars in the past century."
Mackerras died in Brisbane on 8 October 2026 at the age of 87.
