Lex McLennan grew up on his father's properties at Wauchope and Bathurst, New South Wales. His education was conducted initially by correspondence and later at Bathurst Secondary School. After moving to Queensland in 1924, McLennan took up farming himself at Thangool in the Callide Valley. Most of his working life was spent in the pastoral industry although he had a keen interest in horse racing and was involved with the Rockhampton Jockey Club as a stipendiary steward. In his early years he was an amateur boxer, and became an authority on the sport.
McLennan's earliest poetry was published in the Burr, a magazine of Bathurst Secondary School. He later became a regular contributor to the Central Queensland Herald, the Capricornian, the North Queensland Register and the Bulletin (Sydney).
