After completing a Graduate Certificate through the University of New England (Armidale), Mitch McKay returned to Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast and from the early 1990s was employed by the Hastings Shire Councl as an Urban Design Officer and later as Heritage Officer. In 2009 he established Port Macquarie Hastings Heritage, a consulting business which develops partnerships and strategic alliances between community groups, individuals, businesses and local and state authorities to manage, conserve, interpret, market and promote heritage and historical places to the community.
McKay's passionate interest in heritage and history has seen him publish
It's Not Hollywood but..., an account of the forced landing by a seaplane at the Camden Haven rivermouth at Laurieton in 1944. Aboard the plane were a troupe of American actors and enterainers comprising Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, Frances Langford, Tony Romano, Barney Dean and Patty Thomas. McKay's most recent publication is a biography of
Clyde Cook, a vaudeville dancer and silent Hollywood film star who was born in Port Macquarie.
