Donald town, on the Richardson River, centre of a thriving east Wimmera farming district, had a humble beginning – a shanty-store near a rough bridge over the river – 100 years ago. The story of the town’s rise to its present flourishing state is told in this study of men and happenings. It is a story of stockmen seeking grass and water on the dry Wimmera plains; of selectors pegging farms from the leasehold sheep and cattle runs; of drought and flood; of families who made good from small beginnings; of striving against the elements and poverty; of primitive farming methods, and of the huge machines that sow and harvest the Donald wheat lands today.

CONTENTS:
Foreword p7. The river and the plains p11. Squatters on the Richardson p17. Some early squatters p31. George Pyers of Lawler p36. Guthrie of Rich Avon p43. Letters to Rich Avon p51. Squatters and selectors p61. A town is born p68. The village grows p76. The streets of Donald p87. Growth of a town p94. The selectors p101. The farmers p109. Pioneers recollect p121. Golden grain p126. Local government p136. Two classic issues p149. The Church p156. Schools p170. Water p180. Sport p188. Passing of a pioneer [Johann August Meyer] p195. The tenth decade p199. Appendix 1: What name for a river? p209. Appendix 2: Councillors: Shire of Donald 1896 and 1963 p211. Appendix 3: Roll of Honour (World War One and Two) p212. Appendix 4: Origins of Rich Avon Run, East Wimmera District p212. References [bibliography] p217. Notes p219. Index p229. Information on, and portrait of author C.E. Sayers (inside back cover).

ILLUSTRATIONS (selected):
Map of district p10.
Between pages 80 and 81:
Johann August Meyer, founder of Donald, and his wife Charlotte. William Donald, squatter. Survey map for the first land sale 1866. Mount Jeffcott Hotel, with Mrs Meyer and son ‘Gus’. Hill and Sawer Ballarat Produce Store; Ballarat Cash Store. Mount Jeffcott Hotel today. Woods Street about 1910 with Rowe and Sons Store. Peter Falla, General Blacksmith and Implement Maker Store with Peter Falla, J.H. Bolden about 1905. Strickland Chemist. Bank of Victoria 1881. Commercial Banking Company building. Donald State School, late 1880s. St George’s Church of England. Woods Street 1883 showing post office and Waddell General Merchant Store. Woods Street 1963 with Donald Pipe Band. Donald Primary School 1963. St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. Methodist Church. St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Donald Fire Brigade about 1898: W. Cark, W. Willey, Peter Falla jnr, J. Morgan, J. Falla, M. Neville. Donald Fire Brigade 1963. A.R. McLachlan’s Rich Avon homestead in the late 1850s. An early settler’s mud brick house, Cope Cope. Laen Bridge. Flood in Woods Street 1909. Richardson River in flood 1917 with B.M. Bassett’s home, site of hospital. Modern farmstead. Donald’s water tower, built 1888, demolished 1918, Joe Baker with trowel. Opening of Donald’s new water storage 1940: C.A. Forer, S.J. McPherson, J. Hannah, L.C. Hall, W. Gray, C.D. Moore, B.M. Bassett. A modern home in 1963.
Between pages 160 and 161:
Donald Railway Station 1893. Donald Railway Station today, with diesel-drawn ‘Mildura Sunlight’ at the platform. Horse-drawn harvesters and horse teams hauling bagged wheat. Worley Brothers store and wagons. J.A. Meyer’s General Store. Bullocks hauling wool. Wheat stacks, Banyena railway siding 1909. Wheat silo at railway station. Five-horse team harvesting crop 1930. Auto-header harvesting on E.L. Riley’s farm, Corack, 1959. Survey map, Donald township, 1881. Donald, looking east, about 50 years ago. Corack Creamery. Old Corack East Methodist Church – old photo and today. Early harvest scene: stripper unloading wheat into a treadle winnower, powered by a horse walking up a sloped, revolving platform. York Plains homestead built by Charles Creswick mid-1840s. St George’s Hall – historic and today. McGonigal’s Victoria Hotel, Banyena. Boer War heroes return, welcome home outside post office, Donald, to privates Hornsby and Moyle, 1900. First Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, McCulloch Street 1923, burnt down 1930. Early cook house at George Pyers’ Lawler Station. Present Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, corner of McCulloch Street and Houston Street, completed 1936. Shire officers 1963: Mr P.M. James, Miss Mary Coats, Mr H.C. Smale, Miss Lesley Falla, Miss Kathleen O’Connell. Shire Hall and Offices, erected 1912. Shire Council 1963: A.J. Sands, A.W.G. Pearse, W.J. Borden, R.S. Reseigh, J.E. Colbert, J. McEwan, A.A. Dunstan, H.J. Falla, C.P. Whelan. Donald High School. Infant Welfare and Pre-School Centre, opened 1962. Victorian Railways Institute building, completed 1963. Donald Swimming Pool.

PLACENAMES and INSTITUTIONS from the index (selected):
Avoca River. Alfred Street. Avon Crescent. Avons Downs station. Avon Plains. Lake Bainenong. Banyena. Banyenong run, west, east, estate. Bet Bet Creek. Blair Street. Buloke lake. Callawadda. Camp Street. Churches: Presbyterian. Methodist. Anglican (St George’s). Roman Catholic (St Mary’s), St Joan of Arc Convent. Cope Cope. Cope Cope School. Corack. Corack homestead. Glenelg River. Glenmona. Grampians district. Gray’s Bridge cemetery. Laen. Langi-kal-kal. Lawler run. Ledcourt run. Loddon River. Longerenong. Lonsdale lake. Marnoo (or Richardson) Plain. St Arnaud ‘Mercury’. Memorial Hall. Napier Street. P and A Society. Park Street. Quambatook run. Railway at Cope Cope and Donald. Rich Avon run. Round lake. Royal Hotel. St Arnaud. Schools: Donald State School; High School; Cope Cope School; Avon Plains School; Laen School. Sheep Hills. Swanwater. Donald ‘Times’. St Arnaud ‘Times’. Warracknabeal run. Watchem. Wimmera: plains, river, district. Yarriambiack Creek. York Plains.

SURNAMES / FAMILY NAMES from the index:
Aitken. Baillie. Baker. Barry. Basset. Bennetto. Bolden. Boyd. Briggs. Brodie. Campbell. Craig. Creswick. Cruickshank. Darlot. Davey. Deakin. Dean. Donald. Duffy. Dunstan. Falla. Foster. Fuller. Grant. Gray. Green. Guthrie. Hall. Ham. Hammill. Hamilton. Hancock. Harper. Harrison. Harsent. Harvey. Hazle. Heale. Hearn. Hines. Hodgson. Holland. Hornsby. Horsfall. Houston. Kerr. King Johnny and Queen Mary (aborigines). Lancaster. La Trobe. Lewis. Litchfield. McBride. McClelland. McCracken. McCulloch. McDonald. McKail. McLachlan. McNab. McNeil. Macredie. McNulty. Madder. Malcolm. Meyer. Oliver. O’Shannessy. Perry. Pope. Powell. Pyers. Raven. Reseigh. Richardson. Robertson. Rutherford. Scott. Seaver. Shanahan. Sproat. Stainthorpe. Stratford. Struther. Sutherland. Tait. Taylor. Waddell. Walker. Wedge. Whatty. Williamson. Wilson. Woods.

FULL INDEX available on library computers: Electronic resources \ indexes (alphabetically by name of place).