Raasay
The poet Sorley MacLean was born in Osgaig, a small crofting community on the west coast of the island; perhaps his most famous poem is about "Hallaig", an abandoned community on the east coast. MacLean's writings often combine an ancient traditional awareness, with a modernist political outlook, in which Raasay, and the areas adjacent to it are frequently referenced. But while MacLean's work dwells on the brutality of war, of the Highland Clearances and modern exploitation, he also writes about nature. Thus, although the Clearances leave an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of those evicted or forced to emigrate, "Time, the deer, is in the Wood of Hallaig".
John Donald McLean
McLean was born in Kilmuir, Inverness-shire, Scotland, the youngest son of Donald McLean, landowner, and his wife Flora "née" Nicholson. McLean emigrated to New South Wales in 1837, and ultimately went largely into squatting pursuits, being at one time interested in no less than forty stations. Latterly he resided on his property at Westbrook, Darling Downs, Queensland.