Donald Shand

Who was Donald Shand?

Donald Munro Shand CMG was an Australian grazier and the founder of East-West Airlines.

Shand was born in Drummoyne in Sydney to accountant James Shand and Ann, née Donald. Shand attended Epping Public, Cleveland Street Intermediate High and Burwood Commercial schools, and studied at Sydney Technical College while employed by a wool firm. He worked on properties near Armidale before becoming a wool and skin buyer. On 24 May 1927 he married Evelyn Wigan, née Hawkins, formerly Hyde, a twice-widowed 48-year-old, at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Sydney. They settled near Armidale at Woodville, a 4000-acre property.

Shand converted the heavily wooded area of his property into agricultural land, selling wood to Armidale residents, and managed to survive the Great Depression by long and hard work. His reputation grew and by 1939 he was known for cultivation of soy beans, peas, chrysanthemums and opium poppies. He ran as one of several Country Party candidates for the House of Representatives seat of New England in 1940 and 1949, but was not successful. During World War II he organised mass production of primary products by co-operating with other landholders and using women to work the land.