A Goldfields Member "The Dove of Ararat" [The Hon. William McLellan M.L.A] from the series "Masks and Faces"

William McLellan (1831–1906), miner and parliamentarian, served on the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1859 to 1877, and again between 1883 and 1897. A native of Perthshire, Scotland, McLellan had trained as a carpenter before coming to Melbourne in 1850. He joined the exodus to the goldfields in 1851, prospecting at various sites in Victoria and New South Wales. Elected to Parliament in 1859 as the member for Ararat, he gained a reputation as a radical, speaking out against squatters’ stranglehold on land and advocating universal male suffrage. He was Commissioner of Public Works in James Macpherson’s government, and served as Minister for Mines under Charles Gavan Duffy and James McCulloch (both Macpherson and McCulloch, incidentally, are represented in this group of proposed acquisitions). Ironically nicknamed ‘The Dove of Ararat’, McLellan’s radical leanings diminished with age and accumulated mining-related wealth.