Sir William Alfred Brand, CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (22 August 1888 – 26 October 1979) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Childers, Queensland

Childers, Queensland

Childers is a town in southern Queensland, Australia, situated at the junction of the Bruce and Isis Highways. The township lies north of the state capital Brisbane and south-west of Bundaberg. Childers is located within Bundaberg Region Local Government Area. At the 2006 census, Childers had a...

, he was educated at state schools before becoming a sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

 grower. He was president of the Australian Sugar Growers Association. In 1920, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 as the Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 member for Burrum Burrum, transferring to Isis in 1932. He was Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 1944 to 1947. He retired from the Assembly in 1950, but in 1954 was elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 as the Country Party member for Wide Bay

Division of Wide Bay

The Division of Wide Bay is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...

, which he held until his retirement in 1958. Brand was knighted in 1965. He died in 1979.