Don Bradman

Narrator: The impact of the Great Depression in the early 1930’s was devastating. Many Australians were thrown out of work, leaving families without a regular income, forcing many people to live in makeshift dwellings and many more to rely on the rabbits that they could trap for food. In bad times, people look for an escape, a reason to hope. In the Great Depression, Australians found Don Bradman.

Narrator: In the Great Depression, Australians found Don Bradman. Don Bradman was the ordinary Australian writ large, an ordinary bloke from an ordinary house in a small country town. The Don represented what to many persistence, courage, concentration and determination can achieve. He was the best, and that delivered much needed hope and inspiration to millions of Australians. Bradman stamped his authority on the game of cricket in 1930 by scoring 452 not out against Queensland, setting the world record for first class cricket, and in the same year, scoring 334 runs – 309 in just under a day – against England.

Feats like these made Don Bradman an Australian icon during the Depression. They turned him into Our Don Bradman.