McLean, Donald

1820–1877

Administrator, runholder, politician, provincial superintendent

By Alan Ward

Biography

Donald McLean

Donald McLean was a Scottish Highlander, born on 25 October 1820, the third son of Margaret McColl and her husband, John McLean, at Kilmaluag on Tiree, one of the Inner Hebrides. John McLean was a tacksman, holding a large lease from the Duke of Argyll, probably with sub-tenants of his own. The young Donald was born into gentry not peasant life, with a nurse and a tutor. But Argyll subdivided his estate and John McLean was dispossessed. From the age of about 11 Donald was educated by his mother's brother, the Reverend Donald McColl, for the Presbyterian ministry. Donald studied history, literature and divinity until 1838 when he sailed for New South Wales, accompanying relatives who had government connections. After a brief attempt at squatting near Bathurst, he took employment with the Sydney merchants Abercrombie and Company, the position carrying a modest salary and a house.
This firm sent him to the Auckland area, New Zealand, in 1840. He stayed on, cutting timber and managing a schooner on the Waihou River and the Firth of Thames for the trader John McLeod. Here he acquired a good knowledge of Maori, perhaps helped by his being already bilingual in Gaelic and English. In March 1844, through the influence of Andrew Sinclair, colonial secretary and a Scot, he was appointed to the Protectorate of Aborigines. Posted as sub-protector in Taranaki, McLean had to mediate in a diverse range of conflicts between Maori and settler, notably those caused by the damaging of Maori cultivations by settlers' stock. He had to calm the Taranaki tribes, angered by the land claims commissioner's recognition of the New Zealand Company's crude purchase of Taranaki land. At the meeting he convened for Governor Robert FitzRoy he would first have heard the vehement opposition of Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake to the sale of land at Waitara. But McLean had also begun to develop a rapport with Taranaki settler families angered by FitzRoy's refusal to confirm the commissioner's award.
McLean acquired standing among Maori for his knowledge of their language and his respect for rank and protocol. He was also industrious and accessible, putting aside social engagements if Maori callers wanted his attention. He enjoyed bush travel, comparing the wild valleys and streams with those of Scotland and extolling the pleasures of a tent camp after a hard ride – the encircling fires and the songs and storytelling of his companions, Maori and settler.