McLeans Island is a rural area north and northwest of Christchurch city, and south of Waimakariri River. The area was an island in the Waimakariri River until the 1930s, when flood control measures and Great Depression work schemes blocked the south branch of the river which separated the island from the south bank. It was named for the Scottish McLean family, who established Waimakariri Station on the south bank in the 1850s.