The Don family
Back row : Allie (James wife) James Don, Amy Don & Richard Don
Middle : granddaughter - Jamieson, Grandson Hudson & Richards wife Kylie
Seated : Chris with Kendrix, Lyn with Christian, Lachie & Ruby.
 
Member Chris Don’s career has been in conveyancing – but not the real estate kind. For example, around 1999 his company built overland conveyors that over several years conveyed nearly 16 million tonnes of rock and gravel between Jordon Valley & the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. The project involved mining, excavating & conveying crushed rock from a huge area in the Jordon Valley Hills about 2 kms from the old airport. The work created levelled plateaus for new residential towers, shopping complexes & schools.
All this material was conveyed by rubber conveyor belting enclosed in precision-engineered, lightweight, prefabricated frame modules. 

 
The module conveyors ran down roads, across highways, through shopping strips & housing estates finally ending up the old airport where it was crushed to smaller aggregate and then barged to the Pearl River.
Another recent big project was installing a processing plant for the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi at Ruwais on the coast towards Qatar. “We’ve done projects in Nauru, New Zealand, Bougainville and all around Australia,” says Chris (right, in working gear - don't mess with this man!). 
The strangest part of his business life was projects arising from casually meeting people who turned into clients. “I was having a drink at the infamous Someplace Else bar in the Hong Kong Sheraton and got talking to a bloke next to me. He turned out to be a Lebanese business man organising the Abu Dhabi project and needing what we could offer. 
“So I’d advise anyone when you’re having a drink at a bar to turn left then right and introduce yourself to whoever’s next to you.”
Chris 68, grew up in East Ivanhoe. His grandfather Donald Don (yes, that’s right) who incidentally was a famous Richmond AFL star, started the family industrial engineering business, Donald Don & Sons in 1945. Chris at Scotch College always knew he’d like to follow his grandfather Donald & father Ken into the family business. Incidentally Ken at one stage was the fastest white men in the world over 100 yards. Unusually Chris took a break year by going to Armidale University and doing a useless but interesting year of jurisprudence. He went there more to get out from under the family’s wing and to enjoy uni sport, rather than from love of law.
After he spent 22 years in the family’s business, Pacific Dunlop took them over and he managed an Industrial Division until 1995. Then he and his brother bought a materials handling and mining supplies business, CC Components & another manufacturing company, Australian Belting.
“We designed, built and then maintained operations like quarries, brickworks, gypsum plants, timber mills, coal handling plants & grain storage facilities.
Usually we imported components from specialist manufacturers all around the world. Our main product was heavy-duty rubber conveyor belting and the steel rollers that supported the belting over the long distances.” 
The bothers sold their shares in the two businesses in 2017 and retired.
Chris married Lyn in 1975 and they have two boys, Richard and James and a daughter Amy. “We have six grandkids who all keep us very busy,” he says.
The family’s base is the Dons’ beach house at Inverloch, which sleeps 16. Chris loves sailing, swimming and fishing there. Catch any? “Sure. Excellent snapper and lizards (flatheads). The key thing is to go fishing with someone who knows the real gen. I see people there who’ve fished in vain for years while cannier people come home with bucketloads.”
The Dons’ other great love has been several overseas trips each year. He does the planning and Lyn often doesn’t know what’s coming up next. One of the best was to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa in 2018, taking in Victoria Falls and the Kruger & Zambezi game parks. Their most unusual meal was in Zambia with fried crumbed monkeys’ brains served in monkey skulls. “A little challenging but they were tasty,” he says. “Ozzies two generations back ate lamb brains as routine.”
Chris & Lyn recently stayed with President Mel & Pam in Lucca, Italy.
Lyn is a great gardener, grandkids minder and family matriarch. 
Until last year Chris was a Rotarian with Chadstone East Malvern Club  for 37 years, along with our President Mel. Chris took many District roles over a continuous 13 years period, including District Chairman of the Foundation (international charity fund) Committee for four years. The District comprises 60-70 clubs.#