MACLEAN, Allan Kenneth (1893-1969)
Allan Mclean
(Cadet Officers and NCOs 1910).
Alan Kenneth Maclean was enrolled by his mother, Mrs Maclean, at Geelong College in 1905. His entry address was given as ‘Kaoota’, Hunter’s Hill, Sydney.
He is recorded as leaving in 1911 and as of Form VI in the 1912 Valette list. He was a member of the 1st Football XVIII in 1910 and 1911; the 1st Cricket XI in 1910 and 1911; and the Athletics Team of 1911. In 1911 he was listed as a Sergeant in the College Cadet Corps. He was also a debater and
Pegasus reported one impromptu debate of 2 August 1911 where
'A K Maclean citing experiences from the misty past when he first came to the College, argued that schoolboys are not as hardy as they used to be.' At College, he also won the following awards:
1906 – 2nd, Geography, Middle 4th Form;
1907 – 1st, English, Upper 4th Form;
1907 – 1st, History, Upper 4th Form;
1907 – 2nd, Algebra, Middle 4th Form;
1908 – Dux, 5th Form B;
1908 - 2nd, Geography, 5th Form B.
He was born on 2 March 1893 at Maclean, NSW, the son of Mordaunt Leyburn Maclean and Letitia Mary nee Stanger-Leathes, New South Wales.
He and twenty-four of his classmates from Hawkesbury College, Richmond, NSW, enlisted on 22 August 1914 in the 1st Light Horse Field Ambulance, AIF, and embarked from Sydney on
HMAT A27 Southern on 23 September 1914. Of his twenty-four comrades, six did not survive the war. He served on Gallipoli, arriving there on 13 November 1915, and in Egypt where he was at El Bochra in February 1916. He was promoted Corporal on 18 February 1917. He returned to Australia in
HMT Leicestershire, embarking on 22 January 1919. He died on 4 October 1969.
His name is honoured on the Geelong College Great War Memorial Tablet and on the Turramurra War Memorial. His brothers, Harold Alfred Maclean (1884-1970); Alister Grant Maclean, MC (1888-1965); and Norman Arthur Maclean (1891-1933) all attended Geelong College.
Sources: Pegasus April 1912 p7; Pegasus December 1911 p2; 'Geelong Collegians at the Great War' compiled by J. Affleck. p256 (citing The Pegasus; National Archives).