Brigadier Sir Donald Mackinnon Cleland was an Australian soldier and administrator. For his work as deputy assistant quartermaster general, I Corps, during the campaigns in Libya, Greece and Syria in 1941, he mentioned in dispatches and eventually appointed an M.B.E. in 1942. In October the same year he was promoted to brigadier and again mentioned in despatches. Cleland was elevated to C.B.E. in 1945.
After the war Cleland chaired the Legislative Council of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea and in 1964 directed the introduction of the first House of Assembly elected by full adult franchise. He restructured the public service so that it would be dominated by Papua New Guineans and worked towards eradicating discriminatory legislation until his retirement in 1967. Cleland was knighted in 1961.
