Sir David Brand

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

(1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. A member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, he was a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1945 to 1975, and also the 19th and longest-serving

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

, serving four terms from the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

to the 1971 election. He resigned as leader of the Liberal Party in 1973, and retired from politics in 1975, dying from heart disease in 1979.

Early life

Brand was born in Dongara,

, the eldest of four children of Albert John Brand, a farmer, and his wife Hilda, née Mitchell. His maternal grandfather was Samuel Mitchell, a Cornish immigrant who was a pioneer of the mining industry in Western Australia and served in both houses of state parliament.Samuel Mitchell
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 3 June 2016. Brand's parents farmed at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

and moved to a farm near Mullewa in 1924. He left school at 14 to work on the farm, and at Mullewa became secretary of the local branch of the Primary Producers' Association, a forerunner of the Farmers Federation. In 1935, Brand moved to

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

and worked at the Golden Horseshoe Mine, as a truck driver, treatment hand, filter specialist and shift boss. In his spare time, he was active in the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and as a

scoutmaster A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on t ...

. Brand was of Cornish descent, like both his predecessor, Albert Hawke, and successor,

John Tonkin John Trezise Tonkin AC (2 February 1902 – 20 October 1995), popularly known as "Honest John", was an Australian politician. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for a record 44 ...

, as premier.

Military service

Following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Brand enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 November 1939. As a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, he was assigned to the 2/11th Battalion, part of the 6th Division, which embarked for the Middle East on 20 April 1940. Brand fought in the North African campaign, including the advance on Benghazi, and was promoted to

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

before the 2/11th was sent to the

Greek campaign The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...

, in which he was seriously wounded on 24 April 1941. Brand was eventually sent back to Australia for further treatment, arriving in August, and was discharged as medically unfit in April 1942. He was re-mobilised in September, as an instructor with the 7th Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps, in

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

and was promoted to

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...

in January 1943. With the war effort beginning to wind down, Brand was discharged from the army in January 1945.

Civilian life and political career

Brand married Doris Elspeth McNeill at Mingenew Methodist Church on 20 March 1944, with whom he later had three children. After his army discharge, Brand took over the general store at Dongara. The incumbent

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member for the State seat of Greenough,

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...

, was killed in action with the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in 1945. Brand won the seat for the

in a by-election that year, defeating Newton's brother by a narrow margin. Brand was the first person in Australia to win election to an Australian parliament as a candidate of the newly formed Liberal Party. In October 1949,

Ross McLarty Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, (17 March 1891 – 22 December 1962) was an Australian politician and the 17th Premier of Western Australia. Early life McLarty was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia, the youngest of seven children of Edward McLarty ...

became Premier and Brand entered

the Ministry In constitutional usage in Commonwealth realms, a ministry (usually preceded by the definite article, i.e., the ministry) is a collective body of government minister (government), ministers led by a head of government, such as a prime minister. I ...

as Minister for Housing, Forests and Local Government. From April 1950 he was Minister for Works, Water Supply and Housing, working to establish the

Kwinana Oil Refinery Kwinana Oil Refinery was sited on the shore of Cockburn Sound at Kwinana, near Fremantle, Western Australia. Built by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and completed in 1955, it was the largest oil refinery in Australia, with a capacity of . It was ...

. Brand would later describe this as one of his greatest achievements. He was also involved in the creation of other major industrial projects. After the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's defeat in 1953, Brand became deputy leader of the Opposition. After McLarty's retirement, Brand was elected party leader on 1 March 1957. The Coalition was returned to power in 1959, and Brand was sworn in as Premier on 2 April. His administration retained office at the elections of 1962, 1965, and 1968. This was achieved with the assistance of the West Australian branch of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) which split the Labor vote in some metropolitan electorates. The DLP was active in Western Australia between 1959 and 1974. In 1960, the Federal government lifted its

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

exports, which had been in place since 1938, enabling exploitation of large iron deposits in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

. The mining of large

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

deposits in the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

also commenced, along with expansion of mineral processing at Kwinana and the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

. Federal finance for the

Ord River Scheme The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers . The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia. The Ord ...

was also secured by Brand's government. Substantial oil and

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

deposits were discovered in the Pilbara. In 1968, Western Australia ceased to be a net recipient of federal financial assistance. Brand was knighted in June of the following year. The mining-pastoral boom of the 1960s played a big part in ensuring for Brand's government four successive electoral victories over the ALP opposition (led by Hawke until 1967, and by Tonkin from 1967 to 1971). However, the rapid growth of the Perth metropolitan area, and the strain this put on essential services, eroded the government's popularity, especially after 1969. In addition, Brand's relations with the federal Liberal Party worsened after the retirement of Sir

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

in 1966. While Brand's administration suffered from a series of controversies relating to environmental, heritage, Aboriginal and housing issues, the impact of

production quotas A production quota is a goal for the production of a good. It is typically set by a government or an organization, and can be applied to an individual worker, firm, industry or country. Quotas can be set high to encourage production, or can be use ...

for

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, imposed by Prime Minister Sir

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...

led to open conflict with the federal Liberal Party. In the midst of this conflict the Brand government's attempt to demolish the remains of the Colonial Barracks ("the

Barracks Arch The Barracks Arch is located on the corner of Malcolm and Elder Streets, at the western end of St Georges Terrace in Perth, Western Australia. The Barracks Designed by Richard Roach Jewell, the Barracks were originally built from 1863 to 18 ...

") immediately opposite the parliament building led to a parliamentary revolt within the Liberal Party. Brand prevented this by dropping the proposal, and agreeing to allow the National Trust to restore the Arch. However, the strains this had caused within the government became evident when Brand collapsed while speaking publicly in 1971. He recovered, but the Coalition lost the election to Labor by one seat, and Tonkin became Premier. Brand led the Liberals in opposition until his resignation in 1973; Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

succeeded him as the party's leader. He died of heart disease in

Carnamah, Western Australia Carnamah is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about north of Perth along the Midlands Road. According to 2021 census, the population of the town is 407. The town was gazetted in 1913, and is named after "Carnamah", the name o ...

in 1979. The federal electoral Division of Brand in

, created in 1984, is named after him, as is the

Brand Highway Brand Highway is a main highway linking the northern outskirts of Perth to Geraldton in Western Australia. Together with North West Coastal Highway, it forms part of the Western Australian coastal link to the Northern Territory. The highw ...

and the Sir David Brand School in Coolbinia. The

Sir David Brand Award The Sir David Brand Award for Tourism is the highest award for tourism in Western Australia, named after Sir David Brand (1912-1979), who was Premier of Western Australia from 1959 to 1971. It was established in 1972 as a single award, and is now t ...

is the highest award of the West Australian Tourism Awards, in recognition of his work to advance the tourism industry.

In popular culture

Brand made a guest appearance in the film ''

Nickel Queen ''Nickel Queen'' is a 1971 Australian comedy film starring Googie Withers and directed by her husband John McCallum. The story was loosely based on the Poseidon bubble, a nickel boom in Western Australia in the late 1960s, and tells of an outback ...

'' while Premier of Western Australia.

References

External links