Whyman McLean was an Australian Aboriginal man, a religious

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

who later served as an

Aboriginal tracker Aboriginal trackers were enlisted by Europeans in the years following British colonisation of Australia, to assist them in exploring the Australian landscape. The excellent tracking skills of these Aboriginal Australians were advantageous to set ...

in the

New South Wales Police Force The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

for thirty years until his retirement in 1925.

Early life

Whyman McLean was born at Morago, New South Wales in approximately 1860. He was the son of Archibald McLean and Louisa, an Aboriginal woman. As a young man, Whyman lived on the

Maloga Mission Aboriginal Mission Station also known as Maloga Mission or Mologa Mission was established about from the township of Moama, on the banks of the Murray River in New South Wales, Australia. It was on the edge of an extensive forest reserve. Malog ...

Career

McLean worked for many years as a missionary, travelling to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and raising money for the Maloga Mission cause. He also lived on the Warangesda Mission in the early 1890s. In February 1897 Whyman became a tracker for the New South Wales police, based at

Tumbarumba Tumbarumba ( ) is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, about southwest of the state capital, Sydney. Tumbarumba is located on the periphery of the Riverina and South West Slopes regions at the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. The s ...

. After five years he transferred to

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

. He served 28 years at the police station in Wagga and worked on cases as far afield as Gundagai. During his time on the police force he was responsible for the recovery of 34 bodies of people who had drowned in the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

. He was also instrumental in tracking and capturing up to 120 fugitives who were brought before the courts. Whyman McLean fell ill in December 1926 and was taken to Callan Park Hospital in Sydney where he died on 23 December 1926.

References

People from New South Wales Indigenous Australian people 1926 deaths New South Wales Police Force {{crime-bio-stub