Ian Francis McLaren (30 March 1912 – 17 April 2000), M.A., Dip. Com., D. Litt., , F.R.H.S.V., was an Australian politician, accountant, businessman, historian,

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and book-collector.

Early life

He was born at Launceston in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

to draper Alexander Morrison McLaren and Elsie Elizabeth Gibbins. He attended

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, becoming an accountant. In 1938 he embarked on a world tour, returning in 1939. He served in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

, from 1942 to 1945, and attained the rank of Lieutenant. After the war he returned to Melbourne where he become a partner in the accountancy firm Harris & McLaren. On 16 April 1941 he married Eileen Porter, with whom he had four children.

Political career

From 1945 to 1947 he was the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member for

Glen Iris Glen Iris may refer to: *Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia *Glen Iris, Western Australia A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whit ...

in the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

. Following his defeat he joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, and served on Malvern City Council from 1951 to 1953. In 1965, he returned to the Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Caulfield, changing seats to Bennettswood in 1967. From 1973 he was Deputy Speaker. McLaren retired from politics in 1979.

Historian, bibliographer and book collector

He was a long-standing member of the

Royal Historical Society of Victoria The Royal Historical Society of Victoria is a community organisation promoting the history of the state of Victoria, Australia. It functions to promote and research the history of that state after settlement, and as an umbrella organisation for m ...

(RHSV). He served as its President (1956-1959) and contributed to its journal, '' Victorian Historical Magazine,'' and to other history and cultural periodicals. He also wrote thirteen entries for the ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

''. He was a prolific bibliographer and produced numerous published bibliographies, including "major contributions to Australian bibliography". His first was ''Local Histories of Australia'' (1954). Others dealt with the

La Trobe Valley The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Braiakaulung people, Brayakaulung of the Gunai language, Gun ...

Burke and Wills The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Australia in 1860–61. It consisted of 19 men led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the s ...

, Australian aviation, Australian exploration, the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the co ...

and C.J. Dennis. He was appointed the honorary bibliographer at Melbourne University (Baillieu) Library in 1976. He was a contributor to the ''Bibliography of Australia'' (1941-1969). McLaren was a noted book-collector specialising in

Australiana Australiana includes the items, people, places, flora, fauna and events of Australian origins. Anything pertaining to Australian culture, society, geography and ecology can fall under the term Australiana, especially if it is endemic to Austra ...

and was a member of the Book Collectors Society of Australia. He began collecting in 1943 and by 1974 he owned 40,000 books. The book collection grew so large that he had to sell his home in

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

and buy a bigger house in the same suburb to accommodate his library. His collection of Australiana books was extensive, "totalling about 35,000 volumes",McLaren Collection
nla.gov.au. Retrieved 16 February 2023. and was presented to the University of Melbourne where it is housed in the Special Collections (rare books) Department of the

Baillieu Library The Baillieu Library is the largest of the eleven branches which constitute the University of Melbourne Library. Its impressive collections are central to teaching, learning, and research in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is located ...

.Rachel Kennedy
"The Ian McLaren Collection: A rich and vital source of Australiana"
''University of Melbourne Collections'', Issue 15, December 2014, unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 16 February 2023. A further 5,000 volumes of "local histories, church histories, business histories and organisational histories" had been donated to the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

in 1965.

Other activities

As a businessman, McLaren was Deputy Chairman of Kiwi International and a director of the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria (1963-1965). From 1946 to 1957 he was the Chairman of the

Wyperfeld National Park The Wyperfeld National Park is the third largest national park in Victoria, Australia, located in the Mallee district, approximately northwest of Melbourne, The national park was declared in 1921 and expanded significantly to protect of malle ...

, President of the Youth Hostels Association of Victoria (1947–48), President of the Good Neighbour Council of Victoria (1950s), a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Conventions (1973–78), a member of the Estate Agents Committee (1956–65) a member of the Melbourne University Council (1977–79), chairman of the Australian Wool Authority and a member of the History Advisory Council of Victoria (1977–79). He was President of the Australian

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

(1957-1963) and Vice-President of the World YMCA (1961-1969).

Personal life

He died in

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

, Victoria on 17 April 2000 and was survived by his wife Eileen (Chun) to whom he had been married "for 59 years" and their four children.

Honours

He was awarded the OBE in 1959.Supplement to the London Gazette, 11th June 1960
''London Gazette'', Supplement: 42052, p. 4011. Retrieved 16 February 2023. In 1964, was made a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. He was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Literature by the

in 1996. At the time of his death

Lindsay Thompson Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG (15 October 1923 – 16 July 2008) was an Australian Liberal Party politician who served the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982. He was previously the Deputy Premier between 1972 and ...

, the former

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

, wrote of him, Another obituary noted,

Bibliography

* ''Local History in Australia'', Melbourne, s.n., 1954. * ''Australian Aviation : A Bibliographical Survey'', elbourne: Privately printed, 1958. * ''The Victorian Exploring Expedition and Relieving Expeditions, 1860-61 : The Burke and Wills Tragedy'', elbourne: Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 1960. * ''C.J. Dennis: His Life and Work'', Melbourne : Hall's Book Store, 1961. * ''William John Willis 1834-1861'', Prahran, Vic. : Hall's Book Store, Printers,

961 Year 961 ( CMLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 6 – Siege of Chandax: Byzantine forces under Nikephoros II Phokas cap ...

* ''The McEvoy Gold Mine Disaster, 1895'', elbourne? : s.n., 1962 * ''Edward Edgar Pescott, 1872-1954'', elbourne : Victorian Historical Society, 1965 * ''McLaren Collection'', anberra : National Library of Australia, ca. 1966 followed by: ''McLaren Collection Catalogue: Supplement'', 1966. * ''The Library of Ian F. McLaren'', Melbourne : Hawthorn Press, 1974. * ''C.J. Dennis : A Chronological Checklist of Contributions to Journals'', delaide: Libraries Board of S.A., 1976. * ''C.J. Dennis, A Comprehensive Bibliography Based on the Collection of the Compiler'', Adelaide : Libraries Board of South Australia, 1979. * ''C.J. Dennis in the Herald and Weekly Times'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1981. * ''Marcus Clarke, An Annotated Bibliography'', Melbourne : Library Council of Victoria, 1982. * ''Talking About C.J. Dennis'', Melbourne : English Department, Monash University, 1982. * ''C.J. Dennis : A Supplement to a Comprehensive Bibliography, Together with a Consolidated Index to the Compiler's Dennis Publications'', Adelaide : Libraries Board of South Australia, 1983. * ''John Dunmore Lang : A Comprehensive Bibliography of a Turbulent Australian Scot'', Parkville, Vic. : University of Melbourne Library, 1985. * ''Whitcombe's Story Books : A Trans-Tasman Survey'', Parkville : University of Melbourne Library, 1984. Joint author: George J. Griffiths. Followed by: ''Whitcombe's Story Books : A Trans-Tasman Survey'', 1987. * ''The Chinese in Victoria : Official Reports and Documents'', Ascot Vale ic.: Red Rooster Press, 1985. * ''Adam Lindsay Gordon : A Comprehensive Bibliography'', Parkville : University of Melbourne Library, 1986. * ''Cabinet Photographs and Postcards relating to Adam Lindsay Gordon'', arkville, Vic. : Ian Francis McLaren c. 1986. * ''Grace Jennings Carmichael, from Croajingolong to London : with an Annotated Bibliography'', Parkville (Vic.] : University of Melbourne Library, 1986. * ''Index to the Weekly Times Annual 1911-1934 : With a Bibliography of Charles Leslie Barrett'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1986. * ''Mary Gaunt, A Cosmopolitan Australian : An Annotated Bibliography'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1986. * ''Henry Kendall : A Comprehensive Bibliography'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1987. * ''Towards a Comprehensive Bibliography of Henry Kendall'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1987. * ''Aireys Inlet from Anglesea to Cinema Point : History Based on Material Prepared by Ian F. McLaren'', nglesea, Vic.: Anglesea & District Historical Society for Aireys Inlet District Association, 1988. * ''Australian Explorers by Sea, Land and Air, 1788-1988'', Parkville, Vic. : University of Melbourne Library, 1988-1991. * ''Henry Tolman Dwight : Bookseller and Publisher'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1989. * ''James Lionel Michael : A Comprehensive Bibliography'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1989. * ''The Caxton Press of Christchurch, New Zealand : Annotated Bibliography, 1933-1977 of Items Mainly held in the Collection of the Compiler'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1993. * ''Laperouse in the Pacific, including Searches by d'Entrecasteaux, Dillon, Dumont d'Urville : An Annotated Bibliography'', Parkville ic.: University of Melbourne Library, 1993. * ''The Literature of Malvern, Victoria : A Bibliography'', Malvern, ic.: City of Malvern, 1993. * ''Representative Government in Victoria, 1851-1993 : A Bibliography'', Melbourne : Library Committee, Parliament of Victoria, 1993. * ''Australian Air Power : An Annotated Bibliography'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1994. * ''Australian Civil Aviation : An Annotated Bibliography'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1994. * ''United States Air Power in Australia and the South Pacific : An Annotated bibliography'', Melbourne : Dalriada Press, 1994. * ''Frank William Boreham (1871-1959) : A Select Bibliography'', Parkville, Vic. : Whitley College, University of Melbourne, 1997.

References

External links

Ian McLaren interviewed by Mark Cranfield
(sound recording) at

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, Ian 1912 births 2000 deaths Independent members of the Parliament of Victoria Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian historians Australian book and manuscript collectors Australian bibliographers Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II Royal Australian Navy sailors University of Melbourne alumni politicians