Ivy Brookes

Ivy Brookes (née Deakin; 14 July 1883 – 27 December 1970) was an Australian music teacher, community worker, and philanthropist. She was the wife of the prominent businessman Herbert Brookes and the daughter of Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.

Brookes was born in South Yarra, Victoria, the eldest of three daughters born to Pattie (née Browne) and Alfred Deakin. Her father was a barrister and member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly at the time of her birth; he became Prime Minister in 1903 and served three terms in total, the last of which ended in 1910. The Deakin family attended the Australian Church, a liberal congregational church run by Charles Strong. In 1905, aged 21, Ivy married Herbert Brookes, a 37-year-old widower and friend of the family who had previously been married to Strong's daughter. They had three children together, including Sir Wilfred Deakin Brookes (a businessman and army officer) and Alfred Deakin Brookes (the first head of ASIS).

Brookes was initially privately educated, but attended Melbourne Girls' Grammar School for her final years. She went on to study singing and the violin at the University of Melbourne's Conservatorium of Music, gaining a diploma in 1903 and winning the Ormond Scholarship in 1904. She lost the scholarship upon her marriage the following year. Brookes was first violin in George Marshall-Hall's orchestra from 1903 to 1913, and retained an interest in music for the rest of life. She helped found the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and served on the faculty of the Conservatorium of Music from 1926 to 1969. She was also a member of the university's physical education and social studies boards for several decades.

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