AustLit

Donald Stuart had a strong writing influence in his family background. His mother, Florence (Collings) Stuart, was one of the first female journalists in Western Australia, writing under the pen-name of Hypatia. His father, Julian Stuart (q.v.), was the editor of the Westralian Worker, and his sister was the writer Lyndall Hadow (q.v.). He spent much of his life in the bush in northwest Western Australia, working as a drover, miner, prospector, swagman, well-sinker and wharfie, and it was these experiences that gave his writings such depth. His reminiscences of the 1930s Great Depression are to be found in the chapter 'Stonybroke and Walking' of Bill Bunbury's book Reading Labels on Jam Tins (1993).

Stuart served with the AIF during the Second World War in the Middle East, and survived three and a half years as a P.O.W. on the Burma-Thailand Railway. This time is recalled by Stuart throughout Patsy Adam-Smith's Prisoners of War, From Gallipoli to Korea (1992). After the war he returned to live in the north-west and became known for his championing of the Aboriginal cause.

Stuart wrote radio scripts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission including 13 episodes for the series Book of Gold: The Prospector's Story (1958) and was a life member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA), which established an annual short story competition in Stuart's and Hadow's name, reflecting his interest in the short story, many of which appeared in Meanjin, Westerly and Tom's Weekly.