Jack McLaren (13 October 1884 – 16 May 1954) was an Australian novelist who wrote novels based on his life experiences and who was renowned for his "authenticity of background".[1]
Jack McLaren was the eldest son of Rev. John McLaren, Presbyterian minister, and his wife Mary.[1] McLaren's father was on his way to the South Seas as a missionary and his son was born at the end of the voyage.[2] McLaren was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, but ran away from school at the age of 16. He worked as a cabin boy and seaman before landing in North Queensland in 1902, and for the next ten years worked a variety of jobs and traveled to Fiji, Java, New Guinea, Malaya and the Solomon Islands.[1]
In 1911 he settled at Simpson's Bay on the west coast of Cape York and began to write short pieces for The Bulletin. He finished his first novel there in 1919 and then moved to Sydney with the intention of earning a living as a writer. By 1922 he had been described as one of Australia's most popular authors.[3] By 1924 he was living in Northcote, Melbourne where he married fellow novelist, Ada Elizabeth Moore, née McKenzie. The couple moved to London in 1925 where McLaren continued his writing life, which included the publication of four autobiographical books in the 20’s and 30’s.[4] He broadcast and wrote scripts for the British Broadcasting Corporation and during World War II was in charge of the section of the Ministry of Information responsible for publicity about the Empire.[1]
His first wife died in 1946 and on 21 February 1951 he married Dorothy Norris of Chelsea.[1]
Jack McLaren died of myocardial infarction on 16 May 1954, while on holiday at Brighton.[1]
McLaren’s literary reputation primarily rests on the autobiographical My Crowded Solitude.[5] Written in 1926, it describes a period of 8 years from 1911 on Cape York, where McLaren set up a coconut plantation. It records the native wildlife as well as McLaren’s interactions with a tribe of nomadic Indigenous Australians.[6] McLaren's clearing the land and introducing the coconuts occasioned concern in the local Aboriginal people, causing McLaren to feel 'immoral'.[7]My Crowded Solitude may have been influenced by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.[8]
^Taylor, Cheryl, "McLaren, John (Jack) (1884–1954)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 27 July 2022
