Australian Dictionary of Biography

William Malcolm McLean (1918–1996), rugby union footballer and publican, was born on 28 February 1918 at Ipswich, Queensland, fourth child of Queensland-born parents James Douglas McLean (1879–1947), refreshment room manager, and his wife Alice Davis, née Wiencke. Doug McLean had been a pioneering member (1904–05) of the national rugby union team (later, the Wallabies). Bill was educated at Norman Park State School (1925–32), Brisbane State High School (1933), and St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane (1934). From an early age, he showed enthusiasm for and proficiency in both rugby codes, water polo, and surf lifesaving, although rugby union would become his chief sporting love. He played rugby league for Queensland State Schools against New South Wales (1931–32) and A-grade junior rugby union (1933–34).

While training as an engineering draughtsman, McLean played for three seasons (1935–37) with the Young Men’s Christian Association team in the Queensland Rugby Union and then switched to the Great Public Schools (GPS) Old Boys’ club. By 1939 he had established himself as one of Queensland’s regular representatives, playing in five interstate matches that season. His performances earned him selection for the Wallabies’ 1939 tour of Britain. The team played no games, however, because of the outbreak of World War II on 3 September, the day after their ship berthed at Plymouth. Instead, the touring party helped with war preparations by filling sandbags at Torquay. On 15 September they were presented to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, immediately before embarking for Australia. The voyage was perilous, with the ship zigzagging to avoid enemy submarines. A match was hastily arranged at Bombay (Mumbai), India, so the team could at least wear their Australian jerseys on the field of play; the Wallabies won 21–0.

Giving his occupation as clerk, McLean enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 1 July 1940. While serving with the artillery, he was commissioned in June 1941 and promoted to temporary captain in May 1942. He reverted to lieutenant at his own request on being posted in January 1944 to the 2/3rd Commando Squadron. The unit saw action at Balikpapan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), from the invasion on 1 July 1945 to the Japanese surrender on 15 August. A captain again (August), McLean spent three months from November with the 64th Battalion, occupying Ambon and neighbouring islands. His duties included helping to process some 25,000 Japanese troops for repatriation, earning the respect of a Japanese colonel for his leadership. He transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 28 February 1946 in Brisbane and returned to his work as a draughtsman.

When McLean resumed representative football, he ‘brought his former commando skills onto the rugby field. A tough, hard-hitting forward who led by example, he was speedy around the field and a huge punt kicker of the ball’, according to a fellow Wallaby, (Sir) Nicholas Shehadie (2003, 237). Trevor Allan, his New South Wales rival, future vice-captain, and friend, said of him, ‘in uniform or not, he still looked every inch a commando’ (Smith 1996, 3). He captained the Wallabies on their 1946 tour of New Zealand and played in the three Tests, which the inexperienced team lost. One of his men, Max Howell, later remembered a pep talk by the ‘wild-eyed captain … sleeves rolled up showing biceps like volleyballs,’ counselling them not to ‘take a backward step’ while brandishing a clenched fist to illustrate the potential consequences (Howell 2005, 120).

On 11 April 1947 at All Saints Church of England, Brisbane, McLean married Joan Thelma Tickle, a stenographer. Against the visiting New Zealand All Blacks in June, he played for Queensland in two games and for Australia in two losing Tests; he captained Queensland in both matches and Australia in the second Test. Between August that year and March 1948, he was captain of the Wallabies on a tour of Britain, Ireland, France, and North America. On the voyage to Britain, he and the manager, Arnold Tancred, established a rigorous training regime that McLean implemented: non-stop ninety-minute sessions, focusing on the development of team spirit and the elimination of individual and team weaknesses, and making use of the then novel scrum machine. He never expected anything of anyone that he did not expect from himself; ‘he led, but never followed’ (Howell 2005, 122).

The Wallabies would win three of the five Tests on the tour, but McLean suffered a broken leg on 2 October 1947, which prevented him from playing in any of them. At Twickenham, London, against Combined Services, he was hit by three tacklers, causing a spiral fracture of the tibia and fibula; some spectators at the top of the stadium claimed they heard the bones snap. Substitutes were not permitted and, at first, McLean refused to leave the field, saying ‘I’m the captain of Australia. I’m staying! If somebody runs by, I’ll get him’ (Howell 2005, 122).

Back in Brisbane, McLean recovered sufficiently to play in the 1949 season. Having taken the field six times for his GPS club, he said that he would play for Queensland next year if needed, adding that his leg would ‘stand up to anything’ (Hawkins 1949, 2). He performed well as captain of the State against New South Wales in 1950 but, citing pressure of business, retired as a player in June. The previous year he had been Australian coach for one match, and he was Queensland coach in 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1954.

In December 1949 McLean had gone into business as a newsagent at the Brisbane General Hospital. By July 1950 he was the proprietor of the Moreton Bay Hotel at Redcliffe. In 1954 he switched to the Commercial Hotel at Yarraman but left the next year and moved to Burleigh Heads, where he was a milk vendor and then a van salesman. Between 1963 and 1984 he operated the Newtown (later renamed Clarence Corner) Hotel, South Brisbane, before retiring on the Gold Coast. A talented artist, he taught disabled and handicapped children to paint. His family made him its historian and ‘collector of its memorabilia’ (Pollard 1984, 422). By 1978 the McLean rugby clan included five more internationals: Bill’s brothers Alexander Douglas (1911–1961) and Reginald John (1922–1974), his son Peter William (b. 1952), and his nephews Jeffrey James (1948–2010) and Paul Edward (b. 1953). He died at Sanctuary Cove on 9 December 1996 and, after a Uniting Church funeral, was cremated. His wife had died in 1992; his daughters Judith and Elizabeth and his sons Peter and Ian survived him. Though his playing career had been shortened by war and dogged by cruel luck, his on-field courage, resourcefulness, and technical skill, and his forceful and disciplined attitude as a coach made him ‘one of the most respected men in Australian rugby’ union (Pollard 1984, 421).