Thomas Cornelius Brennan KC (1866 – 3 January 1944) was an Australian journalist, lawyer and conservative politician who was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

Early life

Brennan was born at Sedgwick, near

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

, Victoria and was an older brother of Frank Brennan, later

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

in the Scullin

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 ...

government. He was educated locally and apprenticed as a typesetter with ''the Bendigo Independent''. He joined the Melbourne Argus as a printer but subsequently became a journalist and sub-editor. He continued his education part-time, matriculated and earned a law degree at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in 1900. He married Florence Margaret Slattery in 1902 and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1907.

Legal career

In 1921 he represented

Colin Campbell Ross Colin Campbell Eadie Ross (11 October 1892 – 24 April 1922) was an Australian wine-bar owner who was wrongfully convicted and executed for the murder of a child, which became known as the Gun Alley Murder, despite evidence of his innocence. Fo ...

, the accused in the notorious Gun Alley Murder. Brennan was firmly convinced that Ross was innocent and tried in vain to appeal the case up to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Ross was nonetheless convicted and executed the following year. Haunted by guilt over his failure to save his client, Brennan wrote a book detailing his perspectives on the case, ''The Gun Alley Murder''. It was not until 2008 that modern DNA testing finally confirmed Ross's innocence. The case remains one of the most famous instances of

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal procedure, criminal or civil procedure, civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they actual innocence, did not commit. Mis ...

in Australian legal history. He was appointed a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(KC) in 1928 and was made a

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

in 1935 for a thesis published as ''Interpreting the Constitution''. Brennan was prominent in the Catholic community and editor of ''the Catholic Advocate'' from 1915 to 1917, when he clashed with Bishop

Daniel Mannix Daniel Patrick Mannix (4 March 1864 – 6 November 1963) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia. Early years and Mayno ...

, who opposed the introduction of

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

during World War I, like the great majority of the

Irish Australian Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australians, Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the Ireland, island of Ireland. Irish Australians ...

Catholic community.

Political career

Brennan ran unsuccessfully as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

for election to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

in 1911, 1913 and 1914. He also ran unsuccessfully as a

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

for the seat of

Bendigo East Bendigo East is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It covers an area of covering the part of the city of Bendigo east of the Yungera railway line and surrounding rural areas to the north, ...

in 1921. In 1931, he was appointed to a fill a

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

in the Senate, representing the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

in 1931 and gained re-election in the 1931 election. He was appointed minister without portfolio assisting the ministers for commerce in the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and third Lyons ministries from October 1934 until he lost his seat at the November 1937 election. Brennan was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Tom Australian barristers United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria Members of the Cabinet of Australia Journalists from Melbourne 1866 births 1944 deaths Australian King's Counsel 20th-century Australian politicians People from Bendigo Australian people of Irish descent University of Melbourne alumni politicians