Drummond, David Henry (1890 - 1965)

Country Party politician and member of both the State (1920-1949) and Federal (1949-1963) Parliaments. One of the founders of the New England University College.

He first entered public life in 1920 as the Country Party state member for the Northern Tablelands. Upon the return of single-member seats in 1927 he was elected as member for Armidale, retaining his seat until 1949. He was a prominent member of the New State Movement. He held the education portfolio through three successive governments and established the first rural teachers' college at Armidale in 1929, thus decentralising tertiary education in New South Wales. He supported the creation of the New England University College in 1938 which was the foundation of the present university.

In 1949 Drummond won the seat of New England in the Federal parliament and became an influential backbencher. He was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1952 to 1961. He retired from federal parliament in 1963.

Drummond was a leading and influential citizen in Armidale and a committed Christian. He was seriously injured in a car crash in 1958 in which his wife was killed. The following year he married Amy Laing.

[Brief Biography compiled by Robin Hammond, January/February 2004]

Related Corporate Bodies

• University of New England (1954 - )

Related Organisations

• Drummond Memorial Committee

Related Political Parties

• New England New State Movement

• Belshaw, Jim, 'Drummond, David Henry (1890 - 1965)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Australian National University, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080367b.htm. [ Details... ]