Gus McLaren (born 1923) was an Australian artist, animator and potter. Active duty in the Australian army during World War 2 saw Gus serving in the pacific. Here he painted panels for a recreation tent for wounded Australian and allied soldiers- the work now resides at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. As part of the Occupation forces in 1946, Gus travelled to Japan to teach art to the Japanese and there he met and was interviewed by a young cartoonist, named Les Tanner who worked for BECON ( British and Allied Forces Newspaper). The friendship endured for the next fifty years, until Les Tanner's death in 2001. After the war, Gus returned to Sydney where he worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for the Daily Telegraph and Women's Weekly before moving home to Melbourne where he work