Herbert Brookes

Herbert Robinson Brookes (20 December 1867 – 1 December 1963) was an Australian businessman, philanthropist, and political activist. He inherited substantial holdings from his father, and served as president of the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures. He was involved in numerous charities, and was a major benefactor to the University of Melbourne, his alma mater. Brookes also filled various governmental positions, serving on the Board of Trade, the Tariff Board, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and briefly as the first Commissioner-General to the United States.

Brookes was born in Bendigo, Victoria, to Catherine Margaret (née Robinson) and William Brookes. His younger brothers were Harold and Sir Norman Brookes, both of whom were also public figures – Harold as a businessman, and Norman as a champion tennis player. Their English-born father had arrived in Australia at the age of 18, and made a fortune from mining ventures and other endeavours. In 1878, he moved the family to Government Gums, South Australia, where for two years he oversaw the completion of part of the Central Australia Railway. Herbert assisted his father as a timekeeper and storekeeper, mixing with the adult workers. When the family moved back to Melbourne in 1881, he attended Wesley College. He later went on to the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree in 1890.

After graduation, Brookes spent a year in Queensland working on his father's pastoral leases. He then returned to Victoria to work in the mining industry, managing a series of small mines. In 1905, Brookes moved to Melbourne to work for Austral Otis, a large engineering firm. He became a director of the company in 1912. Brookes' father died in 1910, leaving he and his siblings an estate valued at £172,000. He received the chairmanship of Australian Paper Mills (which his father had founded in 1882), and also managed the William Brookes & Co. pastoral holdings in Queensland and Western Australia. Brookes was president of the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures from 1913 to 1917.

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