This is the story of a life well lived — the life of Donald Cairns Lawrie, DCM — lovingly chronicled by his daughter and story teller, Jeanette Wehl. Drawn from handwritten reflections composed fifty years after the close of the Second World War, The Bush Rider is a tribute not only to a man, but to a time and way of life that now live mostly in memory.

Donald was a bushman through and through — not just by geography, but in spirit. The title of this book, The Bush Rider, captures that truth perfectly. He belonged to the land, and the land, in turn, shaped every chapter of his journey. It all begins in Queensland’s Burnett region — a place where the days were slower, the skies seemed wider, neighbours knew one another by name, and a man’s word still counted for something. It was a world where wildlife roamed freely, children played barefoot until dusk, and life’s riches were measured in simpler terms — laughter around a fire, the weight of a good horse, the rhythm of the seasons.

Woven through this tale of rural life is the solemn thread of war. Donald served five years with the Australian Imperial Forces during WWII as a front line soldier— years that tested his endurance and reshaped his path. After the war came the soldier settler days in Victoria’s Western District — hard, hopeful years marked by the sweat of rebuilding. But eventually, the call of Queensland brought him home once more, to the Darling Downs, where he built a life for his family and found peace in the soil he had always known.

With more than 100 evocative photographs and five hand-drawn maps, The Bush Rider offers more than a biography — it is a doorway into a fading world. It speaks of a generation that held fast through war and hardship, yet still found time for laughter, love, and dreams.

Though it tells the story of one man’s 80-year journey, this book echoes with the heartbeat of a bygone Australia — and reminds us of the beauty, grit, and quiet dignity of lives lived close to the land.