Tom Brennan

Who was Tom Brennan?

Thomas Cornelius "Tom" Brennan KC was an Australian journalist, lawyer and conservative politician who was elected to the Australian Senate.

Brennan was born at Upper Emu Creek, near Bendigo, Victoria and was an older brother of Frank Brennan, later Attorney-General in the Scullin Labor government. He was educated locally and apprenticed as a typesetter with the Bendigo Independent. He joined the Melbourne Argus as a printer but subsequently became a journalist and sub-editor. He continued his education part-time, matriculated and earned a law degree at the University of Melbourne in 1900. He married Florence Margaret Slattery in 1902 and was admitted to the bar in 1907. He was appointed a King's Counsel in 1928 and was made a Doctor of Laws in 1935 for a thesis published as Interpreting the Constitution. Brennan was prominent in the Catholic community and editor of the Catholic Advocate from 1915 to 1917, when he clashed with Bishop Daniel Mannix, who opposed the introduction of conscription during World War I, like the great majority of the Irish Australian Catholic community.