Donald MacLean left school at the age of twelve, became a bush missionary at twenty and later entered the Baptist ministry. He served as a padre during the First World War and then travelled widely, contributing regularly to Australian journals and newspapers. He returned to Melbourne in 1927 to work in radio and according to Miller and Macartney he wrote a series of historical articles for the Melbourne Argus, which also serialised The Luck of the Gold Moidore early in 1934.
