History
The school is named after the Maclean family who immigrated to New Zealand in 1850 and farmed the area on which the school is built.
The family has its origins in Scotland. They left in 1745 following the Jacobite rebellion to take refuge in Cornwall. Here they lived near the small village of Blisland, close to Bodmin. While in Cornwall they were known by the name 'Lean', but in 1845 the surname Maclean was resumed by some of the family.
Originally two brothers, Robert and Every Maclean, together with Robert's wife, Mary, and daughter, Ellen, migrated to Auckland. They were followed later by a younger brother, Benjamin, who was a tutor at St John's College. Their elder brother, John, remained in Cornwall.
Robert and Every successfully developed the farm at 'Bleak House' and were well known citizens of the district. Every, in particular, was a prominent figure in public affairs and a founder of the Auckland Agricultural Company. Mrs Maclean was known as a woman of exceptional character and energy who skillfully ran the farmhouse and tended to the sick in the area with her own home made remedies. She died in 1891, Every in 1901, and Robert, to whom there is a memorial stained glass window in All Saints Church, Howick, in 1888.
Robert Maclean
Every Maclean
Mary Maclean
Ellen Maclean
Past Principals
