Geoffrey Drake-Brockman (engineer)
Brigadier Geoffrey Drake-Brockman (1885–1977) was a Western Australian civil engineer, and an Australian Army officer in both World Wars.
In 1908 he was involved in mapping the route for the railway-line from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia to Port Augusta, South Australia. In 1921 he was appointed commissioner of the Department of the North-West (of Western Australia) based in Broome; as commissioner he recommended a survey of agricultural land at the Ord River, the planting of cotton and the development of the Kimberley region. In 1946 he was appointed assistant-director of public works, and in 1949 chairman of the Western Australian Transport Board, retiring in 1952.[1]
As a soldier, in World War I he was awarded the Military Cross, and commanded the 9th Field Company in 1917-18. In World War II he was posted to Army Headquarters, Melbourne; as colonel, then brigadier, he occupied senior engineering staff posts.[1]
In retirement, he wrote an autobiography, The Turning Wheel (1960).[1]
Family
His parents were Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman and Grace Bussell. He had four sisters and two brothers, including Major General Edmund Drake-Brockman (1884-1949) and Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett (1887-1965).[1]
In 1917 he married Alice Annie Wardlaw Milne in Hertfordshire, England. She died in 1918.[1]
In 1921 he married Henrietta Frances York Jull (1901-1968) in Guildford, Western Australia. She became a prolific author and also wrote several plays.[2] They had two children, a girl and a boy.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Peter Cowan (1996) 'Drake-Brockman, Geoffrey (1885–1977)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (MUP)
- ^ Peter Cowan (1996) 'Drake-Brockman, Henrietta Frances (1901–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (MUP)
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