Maclean

Postcode: 2463

Maclean is a town in Clarence Valley Local Government Area in the North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Clarence River and near the Pacific Highway. At the 2001 census, Maclean had a population of 3,232. Its industries are tourism, sugar cane production, farming and river-prawn trawling.

Maclean hosts a popular Highland Gathering each year, where participants contest traditional Scottish athletic and cultural competitions, such as caber tossing, highland dancing and the bagpipes. The local chamber of commerce has tapped into Maclean's strong Scottish origins and street signs are now written in English and Scottish Gaelic. Light poles are painted with argyle patterns.

The area was originally inhabited by the Gumbaingirr or Yaygir Aboriginal peoples. Matthew Flinders landed near the mouth of the Clarence River in 1799.

Cedar cutting began in the area in the 1830s. The Maclean area was known as Rocky Mouth in 1850s. The township was officially laid out in 1862 and named after Alexander Maclean, the Surveyor General. The sugar industry began to develop around 1865.

The Free Presbyterian Church in was built in 1867. The Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church was built in 1890 and the neo-Gothic St Mary's Catholic Church was built in 1894.

Maclean became a municipality in 1887.

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