Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/320

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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who was married at Dunedin, N.Z., on March 10th, 1867, to Miss Isabel Holmes, was Commissioner of Trade and Customs in the short-lived Atkinson Government in 1884. He is chairman of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand and of the Union Steam Shipping Company of New Zealand, Limited, and took a prominent part in the settlement of the great maritime strike of 1890.

Maclean, Hon. John Donald, M.L.A., sometime treasurer of Queensland, youngest son of Donald Maclean, of Aird and Glen in the island of Skye, and one of the original directors of the Australian Agricultural Company, was born at Aird in 1821. He emigrated to New South Wales in 1837, and ultimately went largely into squatting pursuits, being at one time interested in no less than forty stations. Latterly he resided on his property at Westbrook, Darling Downs, Qd. Having entered the parliament of that colony, he became Colonial Treasurer in the second Ministry of Mr. (now Sir) R. G. W. Herbert, which was formed in July 1866 when Mr. Macalister retired, owing to the refusal of the Governor's assent to his Legal Tender Notes Bill. Mr. Maclean took office in the midst of a monetary crisis, but quickly restored the equilibrium of the finances, when his career was cut short by a fall from his horse which ended fatally on Dec. 16th, 1866.

McLean, Peter, was born in Sept. 1837, in Glasgow, and educated at the Normal School. In 1854 he arrived in Victoria, and worked on the goldfields until 1862, when he returned to the old country and engaged in agricultural pursuits. His health failing, he went to Queensland in 1865, where he commenced dairying operations. He was returned to the Assembly in 1876 for the Logan, and was appointed Secretary for Public Lands and Mines in the Douglas Ministry on Dec. 7th, 1878, just six weeks before their defeat. After being returned three times for the Logan, Mr. McLean, who has been a prominent advocate of total abstinence, was defeated in 1883, and became Inspecting Commissioner of Crown Lands in Nov. 1883, a post which he held until his nomination as Under-Secretary of the newly created Department of Agriculture in July 1887. In March 1889 he received the additional appointment of Curator of Botanic Gardens, Parks, and Preserves.

Macleay, Sir George, K.C.M.G., who was the son of the late Alexander Macleay, F.R.S., Colonial Secretary of New South Wales from 1823 to 1837, and Speaker of the Legislative Council of that colony from 1843 to 1846, and Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of James Barclay, was born in 1809, and educated at Westminster School. He was associated with the early exploration work of Sturt and Mitchell; and in 1856 he was returned to the first Legislative Assembly elected under responsible government in New South Wales for the Murrumbidgee district. He was created C.M.G. in 1869 and K.C.M.G. in 1875. Sir George, who was lord of the manor of Bletchingley, Surrey, where he resided, married, firstly, in 1842, Barbara St. Clair, daughter of James Innes, D.L., of Thrumster, Caithness, who died in 1869; and, secondly, on Jan. 15th, 1890, Augusta, a daughter of the late W. G. Lams. He died on June 24th, 1891.

Macleay, Hon. Sir William John, M.L.C., second son of Kenneth Macleay, of Keiss Castle, Caithness, by Isabella, daughter of John Horne, and nephew of the late Hon. Alexander Macleay, M.L.C., F.R.S., sometime Colonial Secretary and Speaker of the First Legislative Council of New South Wales, was born in Caithness on June 13th, 1820, and educated at the Academy and the University of Edinburgh, emigrating in 1839 to New South Wales, where he engaged in squatting on the Murrumbidgee until 1854, when his parliamentary career commenced. He was elected to the old Legislative Council for Lachlan and Lower Darling in 1854, and sat in the Assembly for Murrumbidgee from 1856 to 1874, when he resigned, and conducted an expedition to New Guinea, in his own barque, The Chevert, in company with Capt. Onslow, starting from Sydney on May 15th, 1875. He was nominated to the Legislative Council in Oct. 1877, on his return from this journey. In June 1857 Mr. Macleay married Susan Emmeline, second daughter of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Edward Deas Thomson. He was knighted in 1889, and died on Dec. 7th, 1891. Sir William was the holder of the gold medal struck in 1875 to commemorate distinguished services in connection

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