Allan McFarlane was a Scottish pastoralist and parliamentarian in The Murray and then Mount Barker districts of the Colony of South Australia. His son Allan McFarlane sen. succeeded him on the Wellington Lodge station. His grandson, Allan McFarlane jun. ran Jockwar Station, Tailem Bend, and had a son, also Allan McFarlane. Allan McFarlane and his wife Margaret and their family left their home in Caithness, Scotland, and arrived in South Australia aboard the Superb on 29 October 1839. Margaret's brother Donald Horne was a Writer to the Signet. McFarlane was appointed Justice of the Peace some time before December 1858 and Special Magistrate in 1864. McFarlane was elected to the seat of The Murray in the South Australian House of Assembly in 1862 in a by-election occasioned by the death of Dr. David Wark. He defeated Henry Kent Hughes 20 votes to 18. With a redistribution later that year, most of his seat was subsumed in the seat of Mount Barker. and he was, with John Dunn, elected to that seat in the election held at the end of 1862. McFarlane bought Wellington Lodge station. McFarlane was for many years active with the Mount Barker Agricultural and Horticultural Society. and a Mount Barker representative on the Country Committee of the R.A.& H.S McFarlane died at his residence Ruthyn Lodge, Kensington.
Family
For many years his name was spelled McFarlane or MacFarlane interchangeably in the newspapers, so it would appear that he was indifferent to its orthography, but eventually "McFarlane" was settled on by his descendants, with famous exceptions noted below. The occasional spelling "Alan" in references can be ascribed to typographical mistakes. Among the children of Allan McFarlane and his wife Margaret were:
Benjamina Horne MacFarlane married Andrew Chalmers M.D. on 25 December 1851
Allan McFarlane married Susanna Hector on 27 June 1862. They lived at "Glensloys", Mount Barker and "Wellington Lodge". Allan made considerable improvements to Wellington Lodge station and was known as a considerate employer, notably to his aboriginal workers. He was a successful breeder of merino sheep and one of the first to recognise the threat to pastoralists posed by the rabbit. He was a stalwart of the MeningieDistrict Council, an enthusiastic yachtsman with the MilangSailing Club, and an expert marksman, winning several trophies at Wimbledon. Their family included:
*His eldest daughter, also named Susanna Hector McFarlane, married George Arthur Jervois on 3 December 1885.
*His third daughter, Elizabeth Begg McFarlane, married Michael Seymour Hawker, a son of G. C. Hawker, on 9 June 1891 and lived at Aldgate.
*His fourth daughter, Alice, married Dr. Robert Stewart of Hindmarsh on 15 May 1889.
*daughter Isabella married Alexander Benjamin Henderson on 5 August 1901.
*His eldest son Allan McFarlane jun., married Janie Thomson on 6 December 1893. They had a son on 5 March 1899,
*Third son Donald Hector McFarlane married Doris Elizabeth Forrest on 29 April 1908
*Youngest son Gordon Hector McFarlane married Doris Philippa Hawker, daughter of Walter Hawker on 19 April 1911.
Sir Donald Horne MacFarlane, merchant, parliamentarian and poet, lived in South Australia for 13 years.
Isabella Horne McFarlane married Charles Hampden Pickford on 3 June 1852
Susan Dunsanne MacFarlane married Alexander Benjamin Henderson on 24 September 1862
The McFarlanes owned the Wellington Lodge station prior to 1855 Their home until around 1860 was "Glensloy", near Mount Barker Junction. which remained family property until 1882. Duncan McFarlane J.P., also of Mount Barker and of "Alverstoke" Glen Osmond was no relation.
