Frank Brennan

Who was Frank Brennan?

Francis Brennan was an Australian lawyer and Australian Labor Party politician.

Brennan was born at Upper Emu Creek near Bendigo, Victoria and was a younger brother of Tom Brennan, later an assistant minister in the conservative Lyons government. He studied law at the University of Melbourne and achieved an LL.B. in 1901. He established a legal business specialising in union cases and became a Catholic layman. He joined the Labor Party in 1907 and unsuccessfully contested Bendigo in 1910, but won Batman at a by-election in 1911. In 1913 he married Cecilia Mary O'Donnell.

Following Labor's election win in 1929, Brennan became Attorney-General in the Scullin Ministry, but was not particularly effective in this role. However, he lost his seat in the 1931 election as a result of the swing against Labor as a result of the Great Depression and a split in the Labor Party. He recovered Batman in the 1934 election and held it until his retirement in 1949.

Brennan is the father of prominent author the late Niall Brennan, a biographer of both Archbiship Daniel Mannix and businessman John Wren.

Brennan died of hypertensive vascular disease in Melbourne.