Donald Strachan
Donald (Don) John Strachan
1929 -
Rugby League
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Donald Strachan was born on 18 February 1929. His early football at Hurlstone Agricultural College saw him as a rugby league prop forward. At school age he was a solid 92kg and revelled in hard work, either as a lock or front row forward. His versatility was displayed when he represented Australia in a match in New Zealand as breakaway. One of his notable captains in CHS Football was the legendary Trevor Allan.
Don returned to the family property in 1947 and was invited to play rugby. Shortly afterwards he and a number of friends formed the Emus Rugby Club. He captained Emus from 1953-1958. He also served as president and coach of Emus and has retained a lifelong association with them.
One of his early representative matches was against the Maoris at Wade Park in 1949 and in 1951 he played against the All Blacks at Parkes. From there he was chosen for an Australian Tour to Ceylon but had to withdraw. Two years later he toured Fiji with the Australian Colts. Between 1949 and 1955 he represented and captained New South Wales Country on many occasions. He toured New Zealand in 1954.
Don's greatest honour came in 1955 when he was chosen for the Wallaby tour of New Zealand where he played in nine of the twelve matches, including the second and third Tests where he partnered Nick Shehadie and Jim Cross in the front row. Don continued to play regularly for New South Wales during 1955 and played one match for the State in 1956 before retiring due to personal and business commitments.
In 1958 Don captained Central West to a memorable win over the Maoris at Wade Park, in a team he described as the greatest country team he had ever been associated with. He helped form the Central West Referees Association and was a first grade referee from 1962 to 1970. In 1990 he was still actively involved in rugby as a selector for the New South Wales Country Under 21 team.
