Tom Drake-Brockman

Sir Thomas Charles Drake-Brockman, (15 May 1919 – 28 August 1992) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1959 to 1978 and also briefly in 1958. He was a member of the National Country Party (Country Party prior to 1974). He served as Minister for Air from 1969 to 1972.

Early life Drake-Brockman was born on 15 May 1919 in Toodyay, Western Australia. He was the first of six children born to Rosa Ita and Robert James Hastie Drake-Brockman. His father was a member of a pioneering Western Australian family, while his mother was a schoolteacher and former novice nun originally from Kilkee, Ireland.

Farming In 1945, following his return from the war, Drake-Brockman went into partnership with his parents and two brothers to acquire the Boodadong estate at Yerecoin, previously owned by Horace Berry. They established a mixed farming property, including cereal crops, sheep, beef cattle and pigs. He was active in the Farmers' Union of Western Australia, serving as president of its wool section from 1956 to 1958 and also as a vice-president of the Australian Wool and Meat Producers' Federation. He promoted "orderly marketing of wool through a national scheme that would ensure the livelihood of the small grower". To date, he is the last member of what is now the National Party to be elected to the Senate from Western Australia.

Drake-Brockman was made a Knight Bachelor in June 1979.

Drake-Brockman was interviewed in 1985 by John Ferrell for the Parliament's oral history project. The recording can be found at the National Library of Australia.

Personal life In 1942, while in England, Drake-Brockman married Edith "Mollie" Sykes, a private in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. The couple had five children before divorcing in 1972. He remarried in the same year to Mary Frances McGinnity.

After leaving parliament, Drake-Brockman retired to Lesmurdie on the outskirts of Perth. He was active in the RAAF Association, serving as a senior state vice-president and as chair of the committee overseeing the Aviation Heritage Museum.

Drake-Brockman died at Royal Perth Hospital on 28 August 1992, aged 73.