Rural Australians left up in the air as banks shut down

The major banks told a Senate inquiry more than 95 per cent of their transactions are digital. (Con Chronis/AAP PHOTOS)

People in the city don't always believe cattleman Don McDonald when he says he has to use a helicopter to connect to the internet.

The chairman of 197-year-old farming operation MDH, which runs 150,000 cattle across 14 properties in Queensland's outback, has had to go to extraordinary lengths to do the most basic business.