Speedboats  This is the story of the speedboat and hydroplane racing by John McGinnis (Mac) Williams from 1921 to 1925. He owned several craft and won the Australasian Speedboat Championship for two consecutive years.  More... Cruise of the Francois The luxury 70 foot gaff rigged schooner Francois  was owned by John McGinnis Williams. In 1928 she made a return trip to Cairns from Brisbane, calling in to ports and tropical islands along the way. This is an illustrated narrative of that adventurous journey.  More..  Rescue yacht White Swan What became of this courageous yacht, White Swan? She became known as the ‘Rescue Yacht’ during the evacuation of Singapore in February 1942. What happened after she was captured by the Japanese Imperial Forces?  More.. Plywood Pioneer In 1915 John McGinnis Williams designed and constructed the first Australian made lathe to cut rotary veneers in Brisbane.  He established several plywood manufacturing mills and by 1922 owned the largest plywood producing mill in Australia. More...    Web design by Tropikkal Media 2011 Genealogy  This is the family tree of John McGinnis Williams and Marjorie Dawson, and includes Heatley, Montgomery, Campbell and Stewart ancestors. More...    My father, John McGinnis Williams ('Mac' Williams), was born in Warragul, Victoria in 1882. He began working beside his father in a timber mill and in 1915 he pioneered the plywood industry in Queensland. By 1925 he had already won the Australasian Speedboat Championship for two consecutive years. Through two world wars and a great financial depression, Mac made a name and a fortune for himself. My father died on the 27th February 1971. Thirty years later I decided to tell his story. All I had was a handful of photos and a few newspaper clippings. Oh, how I wish I had spoken to him about his life when he was still alive. It would have saved many years of research and made it so much easier to fit the pieces together.  One day he told me - “I’m a quarter Welsh, an eighth Irish and a little bit of Spanish.” I have been unable to find the Spanish connection ... yet. “It all began with a handful of photos and a few newspaper clippings...”