Bradman's 21st birthday was held at the home of St George cricketer, "Bo" Fraser, in Kogarah Bay. St George teammate, Ernie Laidler, now in his nineties, remembers that Bradman played the piano for most of the evening, singing and playing popular favourites. No gifts were given; it was just a good time with cricketing mates. "He was 100 percent," as Ernie Laidler said, "and the team were a good mob."

Good times fell apart for many with the stock market crash of October 1929 - almost the opening day of the cricket season and Australia was soon caught up in a worldwide Depression, a period when Bradman became a household name. With businesses closing, rising unemployment and the mood oppressive, Australians turned their interest to their sportsmen and women to relieve the gloom.

When Bradman scored 255 in an interstate match, he was tagged a "Run scoring machine" by sportswriter George Thatcher, who continued to call Don "the Bowral youth," and throughout this period, the Bradman phenomenon continued to grow. On 3rd January 1930, in a tight Shield match between NSW versus Queensland, Don scored 205 not out, in the second innings, with still a day to play. With 1,000 runs, the Sunday papers proclaimed him as "The Wonder Cricketer of the season," but at home with Frank Cush and his family, Bradman was quietly determined to top that score. The St George club recognised the value of Bradman's record with a silver paperweight, in the shape of a boomerang mounted on a gold kangaroo. It was presented at a public function in Hurstville before Bradman and Fairfax went to England in 1930, the first St George players to tour.

Australia recovered the Ashes on this tour, with Bradman being the difference between the two teams.

Over the months of the Ashes tour, Bradman's success was something to celebrate at home. His own record of the tour appeared in newspapers, in serial form, from August 1930 and in book form that November. On 10th November, the St George DCC hired the Victory Theatre at Kogarah for a welcome home concert for their returning players. The evening was a resounding success and before a full house, both young men were presented with a club blazer, amid great cheering.

As club records show: "Crowds at our games grew in numbers to reach record proportions for attendances at grade matches, so great an attraction was the magic of Don Bradman."

A 1931 panorama of Hurstville Oval, showing the huge crowds who came to see Test heroes, Don Bradman and Alan Fairfax, playing on their home ground. In progress is a first grade game between St George and Northern Districts, with both Fairfax and Bradman at the wicket, in front of a crowd estimated at 10,000 people. The panorama provides a rare opportunity to view Hurstville Oval in the years before enclosure.

Bob Louden, 1927

In the new year, during a NSW Shield match, the NSWCA presented Bradman with a smoker's stand, to honour the 334 runs he had made at Leeds. On the same occasion, St George was honoured as Bradman's home club. It was the beginning of a year of presentations, marked by huge crowds at Hurstville Oval for the victorious local boy. Ernie Laidler described how Bradman felt "overloaded" by the crowds and people pressing at him, while he waited to bat. As the object of public affection and awe, he could no longer simply enjoy the match.

In the 1931-32 season, Bradman broke Bob Louden's St George club record by scoring 785 in only seven innings. For Australia, he scored 234 against the touring West Indies - the highest Test score in Australia at that time. At the end of the West Indies tour, his own record, "Everyday is a Rainbow day for me" - with Don singing and playing piano, was a popular hit. McKeown's of Erskinville created the Don Bradman special cricket boot. But the talk of the town was whether Bradman would take up a lucrative offer and play professionally in England. As Hansard records, H.V. "Doc" Evatt, the local member and high court judge noted that he had asked Bradman if he "could be of any assistance with the object of enabling you to remain permanently in Australia."

With Bradman now working for Mick Simmons, The Truth newspaper camped permanently on their doorstep, waiting for news of a contract or counter-offer, but Bradman informed them that he hadn't sighted the contract and "still smiling, Don hopped off for Hurstville, en route for Parramatta to play for St George."

That October, Bradman signed a contract with three organisations that would keep him in Australia. He would continue to work for Mick Simmons, he would write cricket articles for Associated Newspapers and he would give cricket talks on 2UE. He would represent FJ Palmers store on some occasions, and indeed he subsequently coached the Sun-Palmer Colts. Evatt was delighted, acknowledging the coup in Parliament. When Bradman announced his engagement to Jesse Menzies in November 1931, the press, predictably went mad. Fortunately, he was not in Sydney at the time, but playing in a charity match in Bathurst, with a team assembled by Dick Jones.