Lorna McDonald

Once McDonald moved to Rockhampton, she began studying externally, completing degrees from the University of Queensland.[5]

In 1975, McDonald gained a master's degree after publishing a thesis[6] on land settlement in the Port Curtis and Leichhardt districts of Queensland.[5] Ten years later, McDonald received a PhD for her thesis[7] on the history of the Central Queensland cattle industry.[5]

In 2000, McDonald was awarded Doctor of Letters from Central Queensland University.[4]

In 1981, McDonald released the first of more than twenty books which are all related to the history of Central Queensland with the first publication entitled Rockhampton: A history of city & district which explored in detail the history of the region.[5]

Her 2011 publication, Treasures in a Tea Tin was based on her discovery of an old tea tin that contained a collection of old letters, postcards, photos and artworks that were written to Joan Archer while she was away in England. McDonald found the tea tin in the 1990s while she was doing unrelated research about the Archer brothers.[8]

After celebrating her 100th birthday in 2016, McDonald relaunched The Moving Mind: The life of Henry Arthur Kellow (1881–1935)[9] a biography of Rockhampton Grammar School principal Henry Kellow, originally published in 1981.[10] At the relaunch of the book, McDonald admitted she wasn't interested in writing another book, but was reading books about geology and biology as she liked to read things about subjects that she had not yet studied.[9]

In 2009, McDonald openly questioned why various landmarks in Central Queensland had failed to be shortlisted for the "Queensland's Top 150 Icons" list, compiled as part of the Q150 sesquicentenary celebrations, after the Queensland Government invited the public to nominate their favourite Queensland landmarks for the list. McDonald said she was surprised that the Fitzroy River, Customs House and the Mount Morgan Mine didn't manage to secure a place amongst the other 300 landmarks that were shortlisted for the final Top 150 list.[11]

• Rockhampton: A History of City & District (1981)[12]
• Sketches of old Rockhampton (1981) (Illustrated by Edith Neish, Text by Lorna McDonald)[13]
• Henry Arthur Kellow, 1881–1935 (1981)[14]
• Cattle Country: The Beef Cattle Industry in Central Queensland, 1850s–1980s (1988)[15]
• Gladstone: The city that waited (1988)[16]
• A Proud Name: Rees R & Sydney Jones (1989)[17]
• Great Traditions: St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Rockhampton, 1861–1994 (1994)[18]
• Rockhampton: A History of City & District (Second Edition) (1995)[19]
• Magic Ships: Life Story of Colin Archer (1997)[20]
• That's Sport! A History of the Frenchville Sports Club, 1948–1998 (1998)[21]
• Delving into the Past: The Jubilee History of Rockhampton & District Historical Society, 1948–1998 (1998)[22]
• Over Earth and Ocean: The Archers of Tolderodden and Gracemere – a Norse-Australian Saga, 1819–1965 (1999)[23]
• West of Matilda: Life in Outback Queensland, 1890s to 1990s (2001)[24]
• Capricornia Queensland: A heritage sketchbook (2001) (Illustrated by Edith Neish, Text by Lorna McDonald)[25]
• Success Through Worthy Service: Anderson's City Printing Works, 1903–2003 (2003)[26]
• Rockhampton's Heritage Walk: Take 10,000 Steps (2005)[27]
• Tartan over Capricornia: Scottish Immigrants in Central Queensland (2006) (co-authored with Sue Smith)[28]
• Treasures in a Tea Tin (2011)[29]
• A Proud Name: Rees R & Sydney Jones (Second Edition) (2014) (co-authored with Robert Macfarlane)[30]
• The Moving Mind: The Life of Henry Arthur Kellow, 1881–1935 (Second Edition) (2016)[31]

• Letters of Australian pioneer family, 1827–1880; The Generation of Gittins and Sarah Bucknall, 1797–1880 (1984) Edited and Introduced by Graeme Bucknall and Lorna McDonald[32]
• Sin, Sweat & Sorrow: The Making of Capricornia Queensland, 1840s–1940s (1993) Edited by Liz Huf, Lorna McDonald and David Myers[33]
• Sin, Sweat & Sorrow: The Making of Capricornia Queensland, 1840s–1940s (Second Edition) (1999) Edited by Liz Huf, Lorna McDonald and David Myers[34]

• Mary Bradford interview (1982)[35]
• Sidney Robinson interview (1982)[36]
• Hamish Spence interview (1982)[37]
• Mona Collins interview (1982)[38]
• Tom Collins interview (1983)[39]
• William Power interview (1985)[40]