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While he devoted much time to the self-government issue, he also pursued constituents’ needs and practical
matters with vigour and was known to visit his electorate on a regular basis and raise issues of concern. Amongst
his achievements were the construction of a road into Moline and another from Katherine to the Western Australian
border, both widely known as ‘Brennan Highways’. He had an active interest in the establishment of higher
education in the Territory and introduced the bill that eventually led to legislation setting up the Darwin Community
College.
The end of his parliamentary career did not mean the end of his public life. In 1972, with the urging and backing
of several of his former Legislative Council colleagues, he stood for and won the position of Mayor of Darwin.
He had a chequered history in this role. He openly admitted to sleeping through Cyclone Tracy in December 1974
and awakening to find the city in ruins. His colourful personality and devotion to the Territory made him a good
ambassador for Darwin but his lack of administrative experience caused some difficulties in his daily work and in
his dealings with aldermen and Council officials.
Political historian Alistair Heatley later argued that Brennan found it hard to adjust to the Mayor’s position.
His lack of prior Council experience ‘proved a handicap and his attempts to impose a new leadership style,
even though fitfully waged, were opposed by aldermen with whom he had some furious exchanges.’ Because of his
independent actions, for example, in 1973 the City Council withdrew his authority to negotiate on its behalf with
government and Council staff. ‘While formally a fulltime incumbent’, Heatley continued, ‘his age and declining
health coupled with his experiences with Council and disinterest in routine affairs rendered him still in practice a
part time mayor. Yet in his dealings with government both before and after the Cyclone, there were occasions when
the Tiger Brennan of old displayed his legendary pugnaciousness.’
At the end of his mayoral term in 1975, an interesting side of his past re-emerged when he received for the
second time the United States Medal of Freedom, the original having been misplaced. The American Ambassador
to Australia, Marshall Green, presented the medal to Brennan in Canberra after he learned that the original had
been lost.
Brennan considered standing for re-election as Mayor but the pressures of the job and particularly the Mayor’s
role on the Darwin Reconstruction Commission persuaded him to step down. When he retired he claimed that he
was going to write a book called ‘Bastards I Have Met’. It is probably unfortunate for posterity that he did not
because consequently much of what made him such an interesting and somewhat mysterious figure in Territory life
was lost when he died in Darwin on New Year’s Day in 1979, his personal history left largely unrecorded.
With his death the Territory lost one of its most interesting and colourful characters and one who made an
important contribution to its development. In addition to his political roles, Brennan also played a prominent part
in the Northern Territory tourist industry, serving as Chairman of the Northern Territory Tourist Board for some
years and as a member of the Australian National Travel Association. He was made a Member of the Order of
Australia (AM) for distinguished public service to the people of the Territory.
His funeral at Saint Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Darwin was a large one. The pith helmet he habitually wore
was placed on his coffin as a symbol of his very individualistic part in Territory life. Tiger Brennan Drive in
Darwin and a Northern Territory Legislative Assembly electorate are named after him.
A Heatley, A City Grows, 1986; F Walker, A Short History of the Legislative Council of the Northern Territory, 1986; Northern Territory
Newsletter, 1979; Territorian, vol 3, No 2, 1967; anonymous research notes, ‘Tiger Brennan His Story’, 5 September 1977.
BARBARA JAMES, Vol 2.BRIDGE, ALAN BRUCE KEITH IAN (1908–1966), barrister, naval officer and Judge was born at Mosman,
New South Wales, on 8 August 1908. The youngest of five children, his parents, John and Annie Bridge ran a
wool-broking business in Sydney.
Bridge was educated at St Ignatius College, Riverview. After matriculating in 1926, he worked as a jackeroo
in 1927 and after 1928 he was in business in Sydney until 1932 when he travelled to Europe. In 1933 he returned
to Australia and began his legal studies at the University of Sydney, graduating Bachelor of Laws with Honours in- In 1934 he won the Pitt Corbett Prize for Constitutional Law. After completing his articles of clerkship he
was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1939, and also qualified as an accountant in the same year.
In 1939 Bridge joined the Royal Australian Navy and served in naval intelligence, seeing active service in
Timor in 1942. After the Japanese capture of the island in February 1942, he and a group of 29 Royal Australian
Air Force personnel and an army signaller, having been left behind following the allied evacuation, escaped to
the mountains near Kupang and maintained intelligence communications with Darwin until the survivors were
rescued by submarine, the USS Searaven, in April 1942. In 1945 he was discharged from the Navy and returned to
the Sydney bar where he built up a diverse practice principally in commercial, equity and town planning matters.
His practice included frequent appearances in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and after taking silk in
1955, occasionally in the High Court of Australia. For many years he also lectured at the University of Sydney,
where he was Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law and Challis Lecturer in Procedure. Between 1960–61 he served
as President of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and he was active in the Returned Services League
and in Legacy.
As a young naval officer he was described as ‘a slightly built man of dark complexion and somewhat reserved
nature which tended to conceal an astuteness of mind and his solid training in the legal profession’. In later years,
he was to become almost bald. He was clean-shaven, had a handsome round face with a kind smile and prominent,
but well shaped, teeth. Throughout his life he was a strong supporter of the Catholic Church, and of the Jesuits.
He was a keen follower of sport, with particular interest in cricket, rugby, tennis and golf, and was an active and
enthusiastic golfer, and fisherman. He also enjoyed camping and family life. He was a keen observer of human