McLennan, Charles Henry   (1854 - 1915)

Born at Fiery Creek, Beaufort, Vic, on 12 August 1854, died at Exhibition Gardens, Victoria Street, Melbourne East, Vic, on 10 December 1915.

Little is known of McLennan's early life other than that he sought work as a watchmaker, grocer's traveller and bookkeeper in Victoria, and as a clerk in Adelaide.

He was to spend time in South Australla, as Charles married Annie Frederick Juers on 2 April 1880 at Naracoorte, SA, and is listed living at Hackney (Adelaide) in 1884. They had three children.

In about 1899, Charles moved to 'Pine Plains' c. 58 km northwest of Hopetoun, north western Vic, where he was employed as a dingo trapper and became an accomplished naturalist and bird watcher.

He wrote a number of articles in the Nature Notes' column of the Melbourne Argus and Australasian under the pen name of 'Mallee Bird'.

He was to become an authority of the mallee in north western Victoria at that time, and participated on several colecting excursions, mainly during September of 1907 and 1908.

In 1909, Charles was to become the frst ranger of Wilsons Promontory National Park, Vic. With the assistance of Dick Selby, he cut, under instructions, a bridle track from his camp at the Darby River to Sealers Cove.

Source: Extracted from book: 'Passions in Ornithology: A century of Australian Egg Collectors' (2020), Mason & Pfitzner, Canberra. [consult for source references]
Portrait Photo: ex Gppsland Shire Historical Society, extracted from above book.

Collecting localities for 'McLennan, C.H.' from AVH (2022)

Data from 26 specimens