Dr William Evan McFarlane FRAS (1866–1919) was a member of the British Astronomical Association and the Royal Astronomical Society. Obituaries published by both organisations in 1919 contained errors about his life. In recent years, he has attracted renewed attention in Queensland, Australia, because of his efforts to popularise astronomy, particularly an object known as the ‘Vulcan Star’, which has become associated with V603 Aquilae. This article presents a corrected account of his life and investigates whether he was the discoverer of the Vulcan Star, and whether the nova’s apparent position and visibility from Irvinebank could explain its association with the Vulcan Mine.