[1] Born at Seabrook near Northam in Western Australia, he was the son of Edmund Ralph Brockman, gentleman-farmer, and Elizabeth Deborah née Slade.
He became chief inspecting surveyor in 1894, in which role he oversaw estate drainage and installation of rabbit-proof fencing.
In 1901, Drake-Brockman and eleven companions explored previously uncharted areas in the Kimberley region.
On the decentralisation of the department in 1910, Drake-Brockman was district surveyor for Nelson, before being appointed Surveyor-General in June 1915.
[1][3] On 20 February 1882 he married Grace Bussell, the heroine of the SS Georgette disaster of 1876.