Scotch College

Medical man of brilliance and heroism

Medicine, sport, war, public office – Kenneth Arthur McLean made his mark in all these spheres and more.

Words: Don Hook and David Ashton

A brilliant Scotch student, a man of medicine, a Military Cross winner, a golf club captain and vice-president, a racing club vice-chairman, hobby farmer, champion billiards player – Kenneth Arthur McLean (1909) was all these and more.

His story is one of heroism, devotion to duty, and scholastic and career success.

Kenneth McLean was born at Dandenong on 11 October 1892, the second of seven children. His father, Alexander Thomas McLean, died in 1913 aged 54. A younger brother Carden, aged 20, who also attended Scotch, was killed in action in France in November 1916.

Kenneth was a brilliant scholar at Scotch, and was editor of The Collegian. He left school in 1909 with a swag of prizes and a scholarship to Ormond College, where he studied medicine at Melbourne University. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees in 1915 and his Doctor of Medicine in 1916.

The McLean story now jumps two years and thousands of kilometres to France, where Kenneth McLean had become the 34th Battalion’s regimental medical officer (RMO).

In April 1918 the Germans tried desperately to break through the Allied lines to reach the important French railway junction at Amiens. On two occasions the Germans were turned back near the town of Villers-Bretonneux, less than 32km away. By then most of the inhabitants had fled, and Villers-Bretonneux was very much a soldiers’ town – sometimes German, sometimes Allied.

On the afternoon of April 4 during the first offensive, Australian troops reported that Villers-Bretonneux was isolated, and it was understood there were Australian wounded in the town.

Captain Kenneth McLean was sent quickly to assess the situation. He found a cellar full of wounded along with two medical officers who had decided to stay on and, if necessary, be taken prisoner along with the wounded.

Captain McLean arranged to return after dark to evacuate the wounded. He did so, bringing up every form of transport he could find, including two big trucks and a number of motor and horse ambulances, limbers and general service wagons.

In the Official History of Australia in the 1914–18 War, historian Charles Bean said the wounded were taken to safety five miles down the Amiens Road. Altogether, some 700 wounded troops were cleared by dawn on 5 April.

Captain McLean was later awarded the Military Cross. The citation said that during heavy enemy shelling of the forward area on 4–5 April, he had ‘maintained a cheerful spirit and walked among the men, exposing himself to constant danger, cheered them, and kept their morale at a very high standard’.

The citation said Captain McLean personally conducted bearer squads to the regimental aid posts (RAPs) during the attack and counter attack and on two occasions went through the German rear barrage fire to reach RAPs which were in need of assistance.

About five months later he won a bar to the MC while serving as RMO of the 7th Field Artillery Brigade.

On 31 August 31 near Clery the 25th Battery was heavily shelled by a German howitzer, two men being killed and two badly wounded. Captain McLean immediately went to the battery and began dressing one of the wounded men. Shells were falling heavily at the time but he continued his work until a shell burst close to him, wounding him severely in the arm and killing the stretcher bearer who was helping him. The citation said Captain McLean showed great courage in the performance of his duty.

After initial treatment in France, Captain McLean was moved to England for specialist attention. He was promoted to major in 1919 and, as he continued to recuperate, he treated soldiers suffering from the deadly influenza strain that swept Europe after World War I.

After the war, Dr McLean practised as a specialist in sexually transmitted diseases. He married Nan Carstairs, a nurse who had joined the Australian Army Medical Corps as a nursing sister. They had three children – two daughters and a son.

Dr McLean had many interests outside medicine. He was a committee member of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club for 25 years and vice-chairman for almost 15 years. He was captain and vice-president of Peninsula Country Golf Club from 1935–37, president of the Athenaeum Club, and the club’s billiards champion on several occasions. Another interest was Forest Lodge, his mixed farm on the Mornington Peninsula.

During World War II, Dr McLean enlisted in the RAAF and served from 1940–46 as a squadron leader, Medical Services. He died in August 1960, highly regarded in the Melbourne medical scene, with hundreds of friends in all walks of life.

The McLean family remains prominent in the medical world. McLean’s son, Kenneth Hay McLean, is a former cardiologist and an Associate Professor at Monash University. Among Kenneth Hay’s six children, two are doctors – a radiologist, Kenneth Austen McLean (’78) and Catriona McLean, who is Professor of Anatomical Pathology at Monash University and Director of Anatomical Pathology at the Alfred Hospital. She is married to Dr John Pedersen and their three children, Marcus and the twins Finn and Jonty, are now at Scotch.

Another of Kenneth Arthur’s great-grandsons is Huw Llewellyn (’05), Professor McLean’s son by an earlier marriage. He is studying engineering at Melbourne University. GS