Allan McLean (Australian politician)
Allan McLean | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Argyll, Scotland |
| Died | July 13, 1911 (aged 71) Albert Park, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Politician, grazier, stock and station agent |
| Years active | 1880–1906 |
| Known for | 19th Premier of Victoria, Minister for Trade and Customs in Australian federal government |
Allan McLean (3 February 1840 – 13 July 1911) was an Australian statesman who held the office of the 19th Premier of Victoria from 1899 until 1900. Subsequently, he served in the federal parliament and was a minister in the administration led by George Reid.
Originally from Argyll, Scotland, McLean relocated to Australia during his childhood. His family established themselves in Victoria’s Gippsland district, where he eventually acquired a sheep station close to Lake Wellington. McLean secured a seat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1880 and entered the cabinet in 1890 under premiers Munro, William Shiels, and Turner. He succeeded Turner as premier in 1899 but was defeated in the 1900 election.
In 1901, McLean transitioned to federal politics as a member of the Protectionist Party, leading its conservative faction. By 1904, he shifted allegiance to serve as Minister for Trade and Customs within the Reid government, effectively acting as deputy prime minister. The administration collapsed in 1905, and McLean lost his parliamentary seat in the 1906 election.
Early life
Born in the Scottish Highlands, McLean emigrated with his family to Australia in 1842, prompted by severe winter conditions in Scotland. His father, Charles McLean, was a grazier near Tarraville in Victoria’s Gippsland region. Receiving local education, Allan assisted on family properties and briefly worked at the Gippsland Times. Around 1870, he took a lease on 'The Lowlands', a sheep station near Sale, and two years later established A. McLean and Company, Stock and Station Agents, based in Maffra. His involvement in local governance began as a Maffra shire councillor in 1873, where he contributed significantly to founding the Municipal Association of Victoria.
Victorian politics
McLean was elected to represent Gippsland North in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1880. As a conservative figure, he held multiple ministerial positions: President of the Board of Land and Works and Minister of Agriculture from 1890 to 1891, Chief Secretary between 1891 and 1893, and minister without portfolio starting in 1894. After successfully moving a no-confidence motion in December 1899, he assumed the roles of Premier and Chief Secretary. However, his administration lasted less than a year before defeat at the 1900 election reinstated George Turner.
Federal politics
Initially resistant to Australian federation and absent from key constitutional conventions, McLean later endorsed Alfred Deakin’s role representing Victoria during negotiations in London. Elected to the inaugural Australian House of Representatives for Gippsland in 1901, he aligned with the conservative wing of the Protectionist Party but opposed Deakin’s closer cooperation with Labour.
Following Labour leader Chris Watson’s short-lived government in 1904, McLean joined George Reid’s minority Free Trade government as Minister for Trade and Customs. His prominence was such that this cabinet was often referred to as the Reid-McLean ministry. Nonetheless, disputes with Labour members and radical Protectionists caused the government to collapse within eleven months after Deakin withdrew support.
This period of political instability weakened McLean’s standing; at the 1906 election he was narrowly unseated by radical Protectionist George Wise, who had Labour endorsement.
Personal life
Due to a chronic rheumatic illness that hindered his ability to represent his electorate effectively, McLean chose to step down before the subsequent election. He passed away in 1911 at his residence in Albert Park. Sir George Reid remarked that "no public man in Victoria was more widely or more affectionately esteemed" (My Reminiscences, p. 238). McLean was married twice: initially in 1866 to Margaret Bridget Shinnock (circa 1847 – 1884), and later to Emily Macarthur (née Linton), who outlived him along with five sons and two daughters from his first marriage. His eldest son, William Joseph McLean (died 1938), became a well-known pastoralist and held the position of senior partner at A. McLean and Co., a stock and station agency with operations in Maffra, Sale, Bairnsdale, and Melbourne under the name McLean, McKenzie and Co.