  The static and dynamic magnetic properties of tetragonally distorted Mn--Ga
based alloys were investigated. Static properties are determined in magnetic
fields up to 6.5~T using SQUID magnetometry. For the pure Mn$_{1.6}$Ga film,
the saturation magnetisation is 0.36~MA/m and the coercivity is 0.29~T. Partial
substitution of Mn by Co results in Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$. The
saturation magnetisation of those films drops to 0.2~MA/m and the coercivity is
increased to 1~T.
  Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) is used to probe the
high-frequency dynamics of Mn--Ga. The ferromagnetic resonance frequency
extrapolated to zero-field is found to be 125~GHz with a Gilbert damping,
$\alpha$, of 0.019. The anisotropy field is determined from both SQUID and
TR-MOKE to be 4.5~T, corresponding to an effective anisotropy density of
0.81~MJ/m$^3$.
  Given the large anisotropy field of the Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$ film,
pulsed magnetic fields up to 60~T are used to determine the field strength
required to saturate the film in the plane. For this, the extraordinary Hall
effect was employed as a probe of the local magnetisation. By integrating the
reconstructed in--plane magnetisation curve, the effective anisotropy energy
density for Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$ is determined to be 1.23~MJ/m$^3$.
