McKellar, John, 1881-1966.

John McKellar was born in Greenock, Scotland, and settled in Melbourne, where he worked as a journalist and developed connections with the Jindyworobak poets. He contributed to Merringek, and published a series of pamphlets, 1946-54, to express his strong views on a range of subjects including conscription, evolution, Christianity and politics. He also published two novels, Sheep without a shepherd (1937), and Tree by the Creek (1961), an imaginative account of the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61, narrated by John King, the sole survivor, and originally an award-winning radio script. In 1951 some of McKellar's essays were collected as Digging at roots.