James Drummond (Australian politician)

Nothing is known of his early life, but in 1829 the family emigrated to the Swan River Colony in what is now Western Australia, arriving on board Parmelia on 1 June.

He continued to work Hawthornden under great financial stress for a number of years, but by 1850 was sufficiently recovered to take up a sheep station at Dandaragan.

That year he joined a large group of pastoralists including Lockier Burges, John Sydney David and Thomas Brown in driving their stock overland to newly discovered grazing land at Champion Bay.

During the early 1850s, following the setting up of the Emigrant Depot in Toodyay, Drummond took the initiative to assist a number of married men with families who found it difficult to secure an employer.

By the time Western Australia gained responsible government in 1870, Drummond was widely acknowledged as the leader and spokesman for the Toodyay district.

When a system of local government was introduced in 1871, Drummond was elected to the Victoria Plains Council, and the following year became a member of the Toodyay Roads Board.

[1]: 213 [2][3] Early in February 1873, Drummond returned home exhausted from having helped fight a bushfire that was threatening his paddocks and homestead, had a cold bath and caught pneumonia.