James Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 from 1870 to 1873.

Born in 1814, most probably in Cork, Ireland, James Drummond was the son of botanist James Drummond

James Drummond (botanist)

James Drummond was a botanist and naturalist who was an early settler in Western Australia.-Early life:...

. Nothing is known of his early life, but in 1829 the family emigrated to the Swan River Colony

Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

 in what is now Western Australia, arriving on board the Parmelia

Parmelia (barque)

The Parmelia was a barque that was used to transport the first civilian officials and settlers of the Swan River Colony to Western Australia in 1829....

on 1 June. For much of his early life James Drummond helped farm the family's land grants

Land grants in the Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony, established in June 1829, was the only British colony in Australia established on the basis of land grants to settlers. Under the conditions stipulated by the Colonial Office, settlers would be granted land in proportion to the value of assets and labour that they brought to...

, first on the Swan River

Swan River (Western Australia)

The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....

 and after 1836 at their Hawthornden grant at Toodyay

Toodyay, Western Australia

Toodyay is a town located in the Wheatbelt region in the Avon Valley, 85 km north-east of Perth, Western Australia. Toodyay is connected to Perth via both rail and road.-History:...

.

Shortly after relocating to Toodyay, Drummond obtained a tract of land adjoining the family grant, becoming a land owner in his own right. He then built the Toodyay district's first flour mill on the site. In 1841 and 1842, he went on a number of exploring expeditions with Captain John Scully

John Scully

John Scully may refer to:*John Scully , American Roman Catholic priest and President of Fordham University*John Scully *John Scully *Iceman John Scully, American boxer*John Sculley, former Apple CEO...

.

During the early 1840s, Drummond's father and brother Johnston

Johnston Drummond

Johnston Drummond was an early settler of Western Australia who became a respected botanical and zoological collector.The son of botanist James Drummond, Johnston Drummond was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1820...

 became increasingly involved in botanical collecting, and his brother John

John Drummond (Australian settler)

John Nicol Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia. He became the colony's first Inspector of Native Police, and helped to explore the Champion Bay district before becoming one of the district's pioneer pastoralists....

 was appointed Inspector of Native Police at York, Western Australia

York, Western Australia

York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...

. Consequently, James Drummond become increasingly responsible for the family farm, until by 1844 he was solely responsible for its management. In that year a severe recession hit the colony, and Drummond found himself deeply in debt. 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

Dandaragan, Western Australia

Dandaragan is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.The name of Dandaragan was first recorded in 1850 as the name of a nearby gulley and spring or watering hole known as Dandaraga spring...

. That year he joined a large group of pastoralists including Lockier Burges

Lockier Burges (Australian politician)

Lockier Clere Burges was an early settler in colonial Western Australia who became a leading pastoralist in the colony, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council....

, John Sydney David

John Davis (Australian politician)

John Sydney Davis was an early pastoralist and MLC in colonial Western Australia.-Early life:Born in Galway, Ireland in 1817, nothing is known of his life until he arrived in Western Australia on board the Trusty in about 1842. Initially he lived at Australind, then moved to Hotham River to manage...

 and Thomas Brown

Thomas Brown (Western Australian politician)

Thomas Brown was an early settler in colonial Western Australia, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council....

 in driving their stock overland to newly discovered grazing land at Champion Bay. On arriving, Drummond took up a large tract of land upon which he established the Oakabella station.

On 26 February 1857 Drummond married Martha Ann Sewell, who was an aunt of George Malakoff Sewell. They would have three sons and five daughters. Drummond's father died in 1863, and Drummond donated his father's herbarium to Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

.

From the mid 1840s, James Drummond became increasingly involved in the public affairs of the Toodyay district. He was a member of the Toodyay Roads Trust in the 1840s, and was also involved in the Toodyay Education Committee. Late in 1853 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

, and in 1857 he was elected to the Toodyay Roads Committee. By 1861 he was Chairman of the Toodyay Agricultural Society. By the time Western Australia gained responsible government

Responsible government

Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

 in 1870, Drummond was widely acknowledged as the leader and spokesperson for the Toodyay district. On 31 October 1870, he was elected to Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 seat of Toodyay

Electoral district of Toodyay

Toodyay was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1977.The district was based on the town of Toodyay lying to the north-east of Perth. It was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 state election.The district was...

 with a huge majority. He was a member of seven of the ten parliamentary committees set up by the First Parliament, and was also elected to the Central Board of Education. When a system of local government

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal 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.

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

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

. He died about a week later on 8 February 1873, and is believed to have been buried alongside his parents at Hawthornden.