Sir David Brand KCMG (1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1945 to 1975, and also the 19th and longest-serving Premier of Western Australia, serving four terms from the 1959 to the 1971 election. He resigned as leader of the Liberal Party in 1973, and retired from politics in 1975, dying from heart disease in 1979. Early life David Brand was born in Dongara, Western Australia, the eldest of four children of Albert John Brand, a farmer, and his wife Hilda, née Mitchell. His great-grandfather George Brand, previously a resident of Falkirk, Scotland, arrived in Western Australia on the convict ship Stag in 1855. He settled in the Greenough area. His family joined him in 1859. David Brand's maternal grandfather was Samuel Mitchell, a Cornish immigrant who was a pioneer of the mining industry in Western Australia and served in both houses of state parliament. Brand's parents farmed at Northampton and moved to a farm near Mullewa in 1924. He left school at 14 to work on the farm, and at Mullewa became secretary of the local branch of the Primary Producers' Association, a forerunner of the Farmers Federation. In 1935, Brand moved to Kalgoorlie and worked at the Golden Horseshoe Mine, as a truck driver, treatment hand, filter specialist and shift boss. In his spare time, he was active in the Methodist Church and as a scoutmaster. Brand was of Cornish descent, like both his predecessor, Albert Hawke, and successor, John Tonkin, as premier. Military service Following the outbreak of World War II, Brand enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 November 1939. As a private, he was assigned to the 2/11th Battalion, part of the 6th Division, which embarked for the Middle East on 20 April 1940. Brand fought in the North African campaign, including the advance on Benghazi, and was promoted to corporal before the 2/11th was sent to the Greek campaign, in which he was seriously wounded on 24 April 1941. Brand was eventually sent back to Australia for further treatment, arriving in August, and was discharged as medically unfit in April 1942. He was re-mobilised in September, as an instructor with the 7th Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps, in Geraldton and was promoted to Warrant Officer in January 1943. With the war effort