Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Frederick Bruxner (25 March 1882 – 28 March 1970) was an Australian politician and soldier, serving for many years as leader of the Country Party (and its predecessors) in New South Wales. Born in the north of the state, Bruxner was educated at The Armidale School and started studies at University of Sydney but later dropped out to take up employment as a grazier and station agent in Tenterfield. After serving in the Citizen Military Forces from 1911, Bruxner enlisted into the Australian Light Horse upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Serving with distinction in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Returning to Australia in 1919, Bruxner sold his business and joined the Progressive Party, being elected to the Parliament of New South Wales for Northern Tablelands at the 1920 election. Bruxner came to political prominence when he led the rural "True Blues" faction of the Progressive Party that went against their Leader's decision to form a coalition in Sir George Fuller's short-lived government in 1921. Bruxner emerged as the leader of the reduced Progressive Party, which consisted of the members of his faction, but they nevertheless joined with Fuller's Nationalists to form government in 1922. Bruxner also became involved in the New England New State Movement. Bruxner resigned the party leadership, now for the renamed Country Party, at the end of 1925.
At the 1927 election, with the abandonment of proportional representation, he won the new seat of Tenterfield unopposed. Bruxner was included in new Premier Thomas Bavin's cabinet as Minister for Local Government, which included the responsibility for transport. He served until Labor won the 1930 election. In April 1932 Bruxner was elected again as the new Country Party Leader, which he would hold continuously until 1958. When Sir Philip Game dismissed Jack Lang and called upon the Leader of the Opposition Bertram Stevens to form a caretaker government in 1932, Stevens formed a coalition with Bruxner's Country Party and Bruxner was named as the first Deputy Premier of New South Wales. Bruxner was also sworn in as Minister for Transport and briefly resumed his former Local Government portfolio. Bruxner also worked with his long-time friend and Minister for Education David Drummond, to establish the New England University College in 1938, which was later to become the University of New England.
Bruxner was central in ensuring Alexander Mair became Premier after Stevens was defeated in the house in August 1939. The Coalition lost government at the 10 May 1941 election and Bruxner would never again serve in government. The rest of Bruxner's parliamentary career was to be on the opposition benches, leading the Country Party through five more elections and through the instability of the larger opposition parties that eventually united as the Liberal Party. On 6 May 1958, Bruxner formally resigned as Leader of the Country Party, having served continuously in that role since 1932. He continued to serve in his capacity as Member for Tenterfield for one more term before retiring from politics before the 1962 election. Bruxner was Knighted as a KBE in 1962, and thereafter served in various capacities on boards and continued his passion for horses before his death aged 88 on 28 March 1970.
Early life and military career Bruxner was born in Tabulum, near the Clarence River in Northern New South Wales, the second son of English-born grazier Charles Augustus Bruxner (1851–1915) and his wife Sarah Elizabeth Barnes (1858–1941). Bruxner was initially educated in private tuition but was soon sent as a boarder first at St Mark's Crescent School in Darling Point, Sydney and then to The Armidale School, where he became School Captain in 1900. From 1901 to 1903, he studied arts and law at the University of Sydney while resident at St Paul's College, but was expelled for non-attendance of lectures.
Returning to home to work as a grazier, Bruxner eventually moved to Tenterfield and set up business as a Stock and station agent. He also purchased "Roseneath", a grazing property near Tenterfield, where he bred Hereford cattle. On 17 June 1908 at Christ Church, Kiama, he married Winifred Catherine Hay Caird. Bruxner became vice-president of the local agricultural society and of the Cricket and Rugby clubs in Tenterfield. Being a racehorse owner, Bruxner also rose to be President of the Tenterfield Jockey Club from 1909 to 1911. He was commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1914.
Bruxner started his military career when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 11 September 1911 in the 6th Australian (New England) Light Horse, Citizen Military Forces, which was redesignated the 5th the following year. When the First World War broke out in September 1914, Bruxner joined up soon after on 10 October 1914 with the 6th Light Horse Regiment in the Australian Imperial Force.Michael Frederick Bruxner, National Library of Australia – WWI Service Record. Promoted to captain, Bruxner was sent with his unit to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign, being wounded several times. Later, in 1916, he commanded the 6th during part of the Battle of Romani and served with distinction in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, for which he was mentioned in despatches twice.Celebrities of the A.I.F. no. 71: Lieut.-Col. M.F. Bruxner, DSO, Reveille 9 (11) (July 1936), 8–9. On 30 May 1917 was appointed by the President of France, Raymond Poincaré, as a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur "in recognition of distinguished services during the campaign". Also in 1917, Bruxner was appointed to General Headquarters and rose to be assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general of the ANZAC Mounted Division. For his service he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1919.
In July 1919, he returned Australia and was discharged a month later in August. Bruxner then returned to Tenterfield, sold his stock and station agency and went back to his property as a grazier. They eventually raised a family, having a daughter, Helen Elizabeth Bruxner, and two sons, James Caird and John Michael Bruxner.
Early political career
As a prominent member of his local community, Bruxner became involved in emerging movements to have a political force for regional areas and joined and was convinced by friends to stand as a Progressive Party candidate in the 1920 New South Wales state election. Bruxner was elected under proportional representation with 23% as the second member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly district of Northern Tablelands alongside his friend David Drummond.
On 20 December 1920, the Labor Party Premier, James Dooley, and his cabinet resigned after having lost a vote in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly a week before. The Governor, Sir Walter Davidson, then commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Sir George Fuller, as Premier. As Fuller did not have a majority, he initiated attempts to form a coalition with the Progressive Party. The Progressives split over whether to join the Fuller government into an urban wing, led by Leader Walter Wearne and Deputy Leader Thomas Bavin, which agreed to enter Fuller's coalition and a rural wing ("The True Blues"), led by Bruxner and Ernest Buttenshaw who offered Fuller only conditional support. After seven hours in government, still without a workable majority, Fuller requested a double-dissolution from Davidson. Davidson refused, on the basis that Dooley still had a majority in the lower house, and Fuller resigned.
Davidson then re-commissioned Dooley, who was then granted a dissolution for an election in March 1922. The Progressives were permanently divided and Bruxner and the "True Blues" who had opposed the coalition maintained their separate identity, while the urban members of the party joined Fuller's Nationalist Party. The Rural Progressives then elected Bruxner in 1922 as Leader for the election. The Progressives were reduced to nine rural members at the 1922 election and entered a Coalition with the Nationalists. Bruxner increased his margin to become the first electorate member with 39%. Bruxner also became involved in the New England New State Movement and helped pass a formal request to the Commonwealth by the Legislative Assembly to establish a new state in northern New South Wales.Totaro, Paola. History's lesson to the bush: if at first you don't secede, try, try again. Sydney Morning Herald. 28 July 2003. The request resulted in the 1924 Cohen Royal Commission into New States.
At the May 1925 election, Bruxner retained his seat with an increased margin of 41%, while the Nationalist/Progressive Government lost office to Jack Lang and the Labor Party. After the election, the Progressive party renamed themselves the Country Party, reflecting the electoral base of the party. Bruxner resigned the leadership at the end of 1925, citing the difficulty in balancing the needs of his family with the commitments of his political career, and was succeeded by Ernest Buttenshaw.
Minister of the Crown
At the 1927 election, with the abandonment of proportional representation, he won the new seat of Tenterfield unopposed. At the election, Lang's Labor Party was defeated and Bruxner was included in new Premier Bavin's cabinet as Minister for Local Government, which included the responsibility for transport. As Minister, Bruxner was responsible for the amendment to the Main Roads Act which gave more powers to the Main Roads Board and provided for the reclassification of the principal roads of the State. All the roads of the state were classified in accordance with their order of importance, which formed the basis for which road development was funded. His view that transport should be a public asset was reinforced when he brought through the passage of the Transport Act 1930, which regulated private bus services to prevent the collapse of government-owned tramways and railways. He remained as Minister until the Bavin Government was defeated by Lang at the 1930 election. At the election, Bruxner retained his seat with 59%. On 23 December 1930, Bruxner was granted by King George V retention of the title "The Honourable" for having served for more than three years as a Member of the Executive Council of New South Wales.
In 1931 Bruxner moved a motion to censure Sydney University Professor of Philosophy John Anderson for his statements that war memorials were "political idols". The motion was vigorously debated but did not pass.James Franklin, Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia (Macleay Press, Sydney, 2003), ch. 1.
As the political climate in New South Wales became more volatile after Lang's attempts to abolish the Legislative Council and conflict with the Federal Government over debts, Bruxner emphasised the need that the Country Party remain independent of the United Australia Party (which had succeeded the Nationalist Party) amidst calls for the opposition to unite. On 26 April 1932, Country Party Leader Buttenshaw notified the party of his intention to resign. Bruxner was then elected as the new party Leader.
Deputy Premier