By Mikayla van Loon
In a lifetime that has spanned 90 years, George McDonald has helped build the community of Mooroolbark in his 55 years living in the suburb. Recently celebrating his birthday, Mr McDonald has reflected on his achievements and what it took to get to a point of creating a home for his family.
With a spring in his step and a mind as sharp as anything, the only signs of age for George McDonald is the almost pure white hair and the wrinkles that show a life well lived.
Born on 27 March 1932 and raised in Scotland, Mr McDonald said as a young lad of 15 years, he left school to do a five year course at trade college, where his savvy personality gave him the ability to get the most out of life and learning.
“What they did is gave you five trades and then after one year you had to pick two,” he said.
“So I discovered during my first year that if you became a coach builder, you were building chassis on vehicles, you were welding, you were putting wiring in the system for the lights on the buses that weren’t even built. So that’s the one I chose.”
By the time he was 21 years old, Mr McDonald decided to follow in his younger brother’s footsteps when completing his two year national service by getting a position in the Royal Air Force.
Determined to achieve a higher ranking than that of his brother as a senior aircraftman, Mr McDonald set out to find a way to do so.
Being a good badminton player, Mr McDonald challenged his officer to a game to inquire about the 10 month long atomic and gas warfare courses which were not normally open to national servicemen.
“I was determined to do it because if you did that, you became a corporal. So I spent my 10 months doing the course and became a corporal,” he said.
“So that showed me in life if you really want something and you go after it, you can probably get it.”
Once his two years were up, Mr McDonald was ready to explore his options outside the RAF and having grown up in an agricultural area of Scotland, he decided to become a salesman of farming goods.
Although his first job wasn’t too successful, he was able to learn as much as he could from local farmers, a skill Mr McDonald would take with him when he applied for a position with an American company Rohm and Haas.
In May 1967 Mr McDonald’s new life abroad began to develop, although he hadn’t yet worked out where it would take him.
Never shying away from an opportunity, Mr McDonald was asked by the American director to travel to Philadelphia to help with the expansion of the company overseas.
For three weeks Mr McDonald met with colleges, veterinary clinics, suppliers and farmers across America.
“[When I returned to Philadelphia, the directors] said ‘McDonald you’ve got this top job in Australia’ and I said ‘but you’ve never interviewed me’. They said everybody I spoke to in the last few weeks submitted reports about me.”
Coming to Australia six months later with his wife and two children, Mr McDonald began living in a hotel in Melbourne but on a day trip to Healesville and travelling back through Mooroolbark, he said he knew that’s where he wanted to live.
Star Mail will continue Mr McDonald’s story next week.
