The town is named after William Donald, a Scottish pastoralist who was the first settler in the area in 1844. At the, Donald had a population of 1,693. The earliest township was known as Richardson Bridge until surveyed as Donald in 1866. The Donald Post Office opened on 1 August 1870 replacing that of nearby Mount Jeffcott which had operated since 1860. The town grew steadily boosted by the closer settlement of the surrounding countryside and the arrival of the railway in 1882. Sir Albert Dunstan, Premier of Victoria 1935-43, was born in Donald in July 1882. On 26 September 2006, Donald was the scene of the Borung Highway collision in which seven people died. Donald has been a victim of several floods in recent years, with the most severe in January 2011. Major floods also occurred in August 1909, 1918, 1956, 1975 and 1992. Contrarily, the area suffered a major drought period in the 1990s and 2000s, significantly impacting the community which primarily relies on crop farming to survive.
As of the 2016 census, 1,498 people resided in Donald. The median age of persons in Donald was 53 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 15.1% of the population. People over the age of 65 years made up 33.1% of the population There were slightly more females than males with 51.3% of the population female and 48.7% male. The average household size is 2.1 persons per household. The average number of children per family for families with children is 2. 81.4% of people were born in Australia. Of all persons living in Donald, 1.1% were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. This is higher than for the state of Victoria but lower than the national average. The most common ancestries in Donald were Australian 31.6%, English 30.4%, Scottish 10.6%, Irish 9.1% and German 3.7%. 86.7% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses in the census for religion were No Religion 24.8%, Uniting Church 21.5%, Catholic 18.3% and Anglican 13.3%.
Sports and activities
Donald has a local newspaper called the Buloke Times which is published each Tuesday and Friday, focusing on local events in the Buloke area, with an emphasis on sporting achievements. The town hosts a 3-day lawn tennis championship on Labour Day weekend. It has an annual show on the Friday and Saturday of the 2nd week of October, and hosts Off Road Racing Australia's annual event the Donald 500 in April. Donald has a field hockey club, an Australian Rules Football club called the Donald Royal Blues and a netball club named the Donald Netball Club, all competing in the North Central Football League, the region's major sports league. The horse racing club, the Wimmera Racing Club, schedules around six race meetings a year at Donald including the Donald Cup meeting in November. Golfers play at the Donald Golf Club on Golf Links Road.
Attractions
Recently the township bid on one of three faux fish used in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth games ceremony and was successful. An attraction in the township is the Bullock's Head Tree, a tree which has a growth on it in the shape of a head of a bullock. Though this was badly damaged in a storm, with the top of the tree falling down, it was re-erected using a metal pole and concrete. Waterskiing and camping facilities are available at the nearby Lake Batyo Catyo.
