Thomas Brown (6 October 1861 – 23 March 1934) was an Australian farmer and politician, born near

Forbes, New South Wales Forbes is a town in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the Newell Highway between Parkes, New South Wales, Parkes and West Wyalong, New South Wales, West Wyalong. At the , Forbes h ...

, to Mitchell Brown, a domestic servant, and his wife Isabella, née Abernethy. Brown studied at St Andrew's College,

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, intending to enter the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

ministry, but was forced to withdraw due to health problems. He remained a preacher and married his cousin Louisa Jane Brown on 15 December 1897 at Chalmers Church in Redfern. Representing Forbes at the first Farmers and Settlers' Association conference in 1893, Brown was a skilled advocate, and was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

as the

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 Condoublin in 1894. He was a

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

r and supported Sir George Reid against Sir William Lyne and

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split o ...

, and also attended the interstate conference for the formation of a federal Labor Party in 1900. Brown resigned from New South Wales Parliament in 1901 and, in a surprising turn of events, defeated

Bernhard Wise Bernhard Ringrose Wise (10 February 1858 – 19 September 1916), commonly referred to as B. R. Wise, was an Australian politician. He was a social reformer, seen by some as a traitor to his class, but who was not fully accepted by the labor Mov ...

for the seat of Canobolas. He became known as the "Bannerman" of the parliament, and by 1906, when Canobolas had been replaced with Calare, he was usually referred to as "Honest Tom" Brown. He was easily elected to Calare, and his standing in parliament was shown when he was sent as part of the Australian delegation to the coronation of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

in 1911. He also became the first secretary of the

Empire Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head of ...

in Australia. Defeated in Calare in 1913, Brown returned to New South Wales politics as the member for Lachlan, where he remained well known as a supporter of rural interests. Defeated by

Ernest Buttenshaw Ernest Albert Buttenshaw (23 May 187626 June 1950) was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1917 until 1932. He was a member of the Nationalist Party of Australia until 1920, when he helped to esta ...

in 1917, he worked for a

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

organisation before becoming secretary to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

. Brown remained active in the Presbyterian community. In 1909 he was behind the public discussion on social issues which led to the famous clash between Prime Minister

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

and Rev. John Ferguson. He was a councillor of

the Scots College , motto_translation = O that we may be worthy of our forefathers , location = Bellevue Hill, Eastern Suburbs, Sydney , country = Australia , type = Independent single-sex primary ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and in 1915 was a member of the Council for Civil and Moral Advancement. He died of

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

at his home in Randwick on 23 March 1934, survived by his wife and three children (a daughter and two sons).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Thomas 1861 births 1934 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Canobolas Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Calare Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Presbyterians 20th-century Australian politicians