Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's $65 million gift to higher education services in Western Australia this week is one of the highest single amounts ever donated in Australia, and came with a call for other wealthy Australians to dig deep for charities.
But a new list naming Australia's top 50 philanthropic gifts indicates it's not always the amount that matters.
Included on the list is a donation of just £5 in 1926, which was enough to start the University of Queensland's special collections library.
The gift was given by students of the university's Dramatic Society in memory of fellow student John Denis Fryer, a World War I veteran who died of tuberculosis.
Today, the library includes more than 100,000 works from Australian authors.
Also featured is a £5,000 donation to William Booth in 1873, an act that helped the fledgling Salvation Army to ramp up efforts to help communities in need and eventually become the internationally recognised aid organisation it is today. The amount came from Launceston shipping merchant and evangelist Henry Reed.
The CSIRO Parkes telescope, Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Royal Botanic Gardens Australia Garden in Victoria were also brought to life with the help of charitable donors.
