Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 26 November 1937, page 16


DONALD'S HISTORY

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS

Sir,—-As the last surviving member of

our clan, of the older generation, I was   interested in your article, in the issue of November 23, headed "Donalds Links with Squatter Days."

My grandfather, Captain Donald McLachlan and family, left Stirling, Scot-

land in the barque Arione; they jour-neyed via the Cape of Good Hope, reach-ing Port Phillip towards the end of 1839. My father was then aged 14, and after three years' schooling he joined the late J. M. Darlot, who had taken up South Brighton Station, now known as Hor-

sham.

Early in the 'forties he bought Richavon Station from a Mr. Horsfall, and the year that I was born (1863), sold out to Mr. Thomas Guthrie. My uncle, William Donald, arrived in 1841, and married my aunt, Mary Anne McLachlan. After acquiring a fortune, he returned to Eng-land, but lived only two or three years.

His son, William, who is mentioned in the article, came from Java in the 'seventies and joined Sir George Ballier and a Mr. Fraser in the purchase of a Queensland station called Manuka. Droughts cleaned them out, and he returned to England, and is still alive at

81.

My grandfather is buried at St. Arnaud, and one of my aunts, who was the first white woman to be buried in the Wim-mera, lies close to the lake at Banyenong. Some six years ago my wife and I paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Tom Guthrie at their home Richavon, and it was the first occasion that I had of renewing my impressions after a lapse of 70 years -

Yours, &c.

ALLAN RONALD MCLACHLAN. Panton Hill.