Many Old Boys go on to lead fulfilling lives and look back at their time at Scots with warm memories. Sadly, not every Old Boy shares these positive reflections of their school days.

This Old Boy’s story is one of those, yet it is as equally inspiring and fulfilling when understood as a story arc leading to the present.

Allan Anthony (Tony) McLellan (’56) is well-known, today, as a very successful, global business man, a philanthropist with a passion for the poor, and a man of great faith and integrity.

When Tony arrived at Scots in 1952 from the family property between Nyngan and Condoblin at age 11, he was thrust into Boarding at Fairfax House.

Tony’s time at Scots started fairly positive with fond memories in English and Mathematics classes, as well as playing in Cricket and Rugby teams for the first time. One memory that stands out, was being called to sit at the front of the class by Mathematics Teacher, Mr Fred Pollock, in reward for providing an insightful response to a problem posed by Mr Pollock. It was this, seemingly minor piece of encouragement, that inspired Tony to go on to write his own text book on “Interest Tables”. This was followed by an account of his life “A Glorious Ride: From Jumble Plains to Eternity” after returning from almost 30 years abroad.

Unfortunately for Tony, these encouraging and enjoyable moments were outweighed by incidents of bullying and receiving the cane for minor indiscretions.

Tony recalls his Fairfax Housemaster, Mr Arthur Dunn, reporting him for wearing a pair of beige sports pants upon returning to the College after a long weekend. Although this attire is appropriate by today’s standards, this incident earned him four ‘cuts’ across the hand with the cane. By the time he was in Fourth Form, Tony’s feelings towards Mr Dunn and the College, hit an all-time low.

Not long after this incident, Tony was urgently called back to the family property when his father became very ill. His father passed away just a few months later on his 44th birthday.

At just 16 years old, with a family sheep station to run and possessing no positive feeling towards Scots, Tony left Bellevue Hill behind and took on full management of the famous Jumble Plains property, its livestock, farming and staff.

He grew up fast. Tony quickly learnt that on a property such as this, you need to get things done – a life lesson he took with him in the years, and many successes, ahead of him.

At 35, in the early 1970s, Tony was asked to scrutinise a major property development proposal in Cairo. After providing his recommendation to proceed with the project plans to build a new city for 45,000 people on the outskirts of Cairo, Tony was given the top job. To ‘get things done’ he packed up his life in Australia, learned Arabic and moved his family to Egypt.

This attitude, combined with his encouraging, personable Australian character, landed him similar senior roles within gold mining and oil and gas companies around the world.

Although Tony’s life was seemingly moving along with great pace and success on the surface, beneath it, the workload and travel were having a devastating effect on his family life.

Searching for help and guidance, he found solace and connection with God. Embracing the Christian faith, Tony restored his marriage and began his new life’s work, to seek significance rather than success. With this he founded and grew Christian not-for-profit organisations in the United States and later Australia, including Opportunity International Australia and Habitat for Humanity. He later became Chairman of the Australian Christian Lobby and is now its Chairman Emeritus.

Now looking to live a life that impacts individuals and communities in meaningful and life-changing ways, Tony took his business know-how and resources, and through the McLellan Foundation, he funded the building of McLellan Hall at the Lachlan Macquarie Institute near Canberra. The Foundation is also funding the construction of a new fistula hospital in Tanzania called The Phaedra Hospital, named after his son-in-law’s late mother. The Phaedra Hospital will offer free medical care both for women to give birth, and also treat those with obstetric fistula.

Now, 73 years on from his first days at Fairfax House, after initially attending a Scots Old Boys’ Christian Union Dinner run by the College’s Community Chaplain, Reverend Conrad Nixon, Tony has been blown away by The Scots College of today.

Tony has been deeply impressed by the young men attending Scots. “Enterprising, thoughtful and creative,” he said after attending a Year 8 Scots X presentation and lunch. The interest in his talks to the young men really inspired him.

He wonders, “Is it too late to go back to Scots at age 84?”