Born in Sydney on 9 May 1929 the son of Daniel McAlary, a grazier, and his wife, Beryl Luita, née Stratton, McAlary was educated by the Christian Brothers in Sydney and went on to study medicine at Sydney University, where he qualified in 1954. After junior posts he came to England to study otorhinolaryngology at the Royal National ENT Hospital, obtaining the DLO and later the FRCS. His outside interests included golf. He married Joan (née Hood), a nurse, in 1957. They had four daughters - Gabrielle, Barbara, Catherine and Elizabeth - and two sons, Robert and Geoffrey, none of whom went into medicine. He died suddenly on 9 August 1993.