David Brand KCMG (1912 - 1979)

Born 1 Aug 1912 in Dongara, Western Australia, Australia

Died 15 Apr 1979 at age 66 in Carnamah, Western Australia, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Andrewartha [send private message]

Biography

David Brand KCMG is Notable.

David Brand KCMG was born in Western Australia, Australia

Sir David Brand ^[1] (1912-1979), storekeeper and premier, was born on 1 August 1912 at Dongara, Western Australia, eldest of four children of Albert John Brand, a native-born farmer, and his wife Hilda, whose father Samuel Mitchell had represented Geraldton (1884-85) in the Western Australian Legislative Council and Murchison (1897-1901) in the Legislative Assembly. Shortly after his birth, David's parents went farming at Northampton and then at Mullewa from 1924. Educated locally, David was obliged by his family's circumstances to leave school at 14 to help on the farm. At Mullewa he became secretary of the local branch of the Primary Producers' Association, the parent organization of the Country Party, of which his father was a member.

In 1935 Brand moved to the goldfields and worked at the Golden Horseshoe Mine, successively as a truck driver, treatment-hand, filter specialist and shift boss. During these years he was active in the Methodist church and as a scoutmaster. Five feet 10 ins (178 cm) tall, with grey eyes and dark hair, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 November 1939; posted to the 2nd/11th Battalion, he embarked for the Middle East on 20 April 1940. He fought in North Africa, was promoted corporal and was sent to Greece where he was wounded on 24 April 1941. After being hospitalized, he returned to Fremantle in August for further treatment and was discharged medically unfit from the A.I.F. in April 1942. Mobilized in September, he served as an instructor with the 7th Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps, in the Geraldton area and was promoted warrant officer in January 1943. He married Doris Elspeth McNeill on 20 March 1944 at the Mingenew Methodist Church. Following his discharge from the Australian Military Forces in January 1945, he took over the general store at Dongara.

When the Legislative Assembly seat of Greenough was declared vacant after the war—its Labor incumbent John Verdun Newton had been reported missing in action in a bombing raid over Germany in January 1944—Brand became the first candidate in Australia to be endorsed by the newly-formed Liberal Party. With the aid of Country Party preferences, he won the by-election in October 1945 from Newton's brother by 308 votes. The Liberal-Country Party coalition came to power in April 1947 under (Sir) Ross McLarty and Brand was appointed government whip. In October 1949 he entered the cabinet as honorary minister for housing, forests and local government. From April 1950 he was minister for works, water supply and housing. He worked closely with the director of works (Sir) Russell Dumas to secure the 1952 agreement with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. for the establishment of a refinery at the new Kwinana industrial area; in later life Brand described the achievement as the greatest of his career. His youthful enthusiasm and practical common sense assisted in this development and in attracting investment capital for other secondary industry projects, including a steel rolling mill and a cement factory. . . . more . . adb.anu.edu

He died on 15 Apr 1979 in Carnamah, Western Australia, Australia and was buried in the Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia. ^[2]

People – LifeTree

6 photos: The State funeral for Sir David Brand reaches Karrakatta Cemetery, 18 April 1979

• Visit: Western Australia Divisions - Profile Tree

Sources

1. ↑ David Black, Brand, Sir David (1912–1979), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
   published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 21 May 2019.
2. ↑ FindAGrave, database and images, memorial page for David (Sir) Brand; Born: 1 Aug 1912 Dongara, Western Australia; Died: 15 Apr 1979 Como, South Perth City, Western Australia, Australia; Cemetery: Karrakatta Cemetery, Karrakatta, Western Australia; Find A Grave: Memorial #168343099; created by: Aussiegenie; accessed: 29 Jan 2023

NAA