Ian McLaren
Australian politician (1912-2000)

Ian Francis McLaren (30 March 1912 – 17 April 2000) , F.R.H.S.V., was an Australian politician, accountant, businessman, historian, bibliographer and book-collector.
Early life
McLaren was born at Launceston in Tasmania to draper Alexander Morrison McLaren and Elsie Elizabeth Gibbins. He attended Caulfield Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, becoming an accountant. In 1938 he embarked on a world tour, returning in 1939. He served in the Royal Australian Navy, from 1942 to 1945, and attained the rank of Lieutenant. After the war he returned to Melbourne where he become a partner in the accountancy firm Harris & McLaren.
On 16 April 1941 he married Eileen Porter, with whom he had four children.
Political career
From 1945 to 1947 he was the independent member for Glen Iris in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Following his defeat he joined the Liberal Party, and served on Malvern City Council from 1951 to 1953.
In 1965, he returned to the Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Caulfield, changing seats to Bennettswood in 1967.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ian McLaren” as australian politician (1912-2000). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as australian politician (1912-2000). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q21604942. VIAF identifies the subject as 45542496. The Library of Congress control number is n50008309. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 2000, 1938 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ian McLaren” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.