Donald Munro Shand CMG (20 September 1904 – 7 November 1976) was an Australian grazier and the founder of East-West Airlines. Shand was born in

Drummoyne Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative center for the local government area of the City of ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to accountant

James Shand Major James Barclay Shand VD (1870 – 21 December 1944) was an Australian politician. Born at Pyrmont to joiner George Sand and Elizabeth, ''née'' Burns, Shand was educated at Fort Street Public School before working as a clerk with ...

(later a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

) and Ann, ''née'' Donald. Shand attended Epping Public, Cleveland Street Intermediate High and Burwood Commercial schools, and studied at

Sydney Technical College The Sydney Technical College, now known as the TAFE New South Wales Sydney Institute, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education i ...

while employed by a wool firm. He worked on properties near

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

by long and hard work. His reputation grew and by 1939 he was known for cultivation of

soy bean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu a ...

peas The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

s (for

pyrethrum ''Pyrethrum'' was a genus of several Old World plants now classified as ''Chrysanthemum'' or ''Tanacetum'' which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads. Pyrethrum continues to be used as a common name for plants formerly inclu ...

) and

opium poppies Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

(for

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a analgesic, pain medication, and is also commonly used recreational drug, recreationally, or to make ...

). He ran as one of several Country Party candidates for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

seat of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in 1940 and 1949, but was not successful. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he organised mass production of primary products by co-operating with other landholders and using women to work the land. In 1947 Shand became the founding chairman of East-West Airlines, which flew between Tamworth and Sydney, as well as other routes. The airline was also used for agricultural purposes, spreading

superphosphate Triple superphosphate is a component of fertilizer that primarily consists of monocalcium phosphate, Ca(H2PO4)2. Triple superphosphate is obtained by treating phosphate rock with phosphoric acid. Traditional routes for extraction of phosphate rock ...

, seeding and crop dusting, for example. Trans-Australian Airlines was a related company, but Shand resisted pressure from the Commonwealth Government and Senator

Shane Paltridge Sir Shane Dunne Paltridge KBE (11 January 1910 – 21 January 1966) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the Menzies Government as Minister for Shipping and Transport (1955–1960), Civil Aviation (1 ...

to accept a takeover from

Ansett Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into adminis ...

. Routes to

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...

and

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

were added in the early 1970s. Shand had been appointed to a new crops advisory body by the government during World War II, and by smuggling grains of hybrid maize from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

he expanded on Australia's existing commercial industry. Appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1976, Shand was able to exploit the plummet in beef prices in the early 1970s with his new crops. Shand's first wife died in 1951; he married another 48-year-old widow, Beryl Constance Downe, ''née'' Coventry, on 24 May 1952 at St Paul's Church in Armidale. He died at Woodville in 1976 and was cremated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shand, Donald 1904 births 1976 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George