Percy “Jack” Brookfield (1875–1921), English-born, settled in Broken Hill before World War I, 20 years after jumping ship in Melbourne.
A militant trade unionist, his victories included the 1916 campaign for a 44-hour week for Broken Hill miners. Brookfield won a New South Wales parliamentary by-election as a socialist anti-conscriptionist in 1917 and pursued a strong left-wing agenda.
Shot at Riverton Railway Station while en route to parliament in Sydney in 1921, Brookfield died next day in the Adelaide Hospital and was buried in Broken Hill after the city’s largest-ever funeral. The shooting, by a mentally unstable Russian who had already wounded several people before Brookfield’s attempt to disarm him, has sometimes been mistakenly considered a political assassination.
To whom it may concern.
I have been looking for photos and history of P.J. Brookfield’s Hospice in Adelaide I feel there is not enough credit given to him on this service He helped to provide there.
Thanks for that Allan,
We’ll need to do some further research.