The members of the Australian Parliament assembled for the first time in Melbourne on 9 May 1901. One hundred and eleven members, comprising 36 senators and 75 members of the House of Representatives, had been elected in polls held in all states on the 29th or 30th March.
111 First Australian Parliament Geocache series. BYO PEN
James Drake was born in London, England and migrated to Queensland in 1874. He worked as a journalist for a number of leading newspapers, was a shorthand writer with the Queensland Parliament’s reporting staff, and was admitted to the Bar in 1882. Drake was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1888-99 and a Member of the Legislative Council 1899-1901 where he held the position of Government Leader, Postmaster-General and Secretary for Public Instruction.
In 1901 Drake was elected as a Protectionist to represent Queensland in the Senate at the first federal election. In February 1901 he was appointed to the Barton Ministry as Postmaster-General, a position which he held until 1903 when he briefly became Minister for Defence. He was Attorney-General 1903-04 and Vice-President of the Executive Council 1904-05.
Drake did not stand for re-election to the Senate in 1906 but retired from politics and resumed practising law in Queensland.