Brookes was born in Bendigo, Victoria, to Catherine Margaret and William Brookes. His younger brothers were Harold and Sir Norman Brookes, both of whom were also public figures – Harold as a businessman, and Norman as a champion tennis player. Their English-born father had arrived in Australia at the age of 18, and made a fortune from mining ventures and other endeavours. In 1878, he moved the family to Government Gums, South Australia, where for two years he oversaw the completion of part of the Central Australia Railway. Herbert assisted his father as a timekeeper and storekeeper, mixing with the adult workers. When the family moved back to Melbourne in 1881, he attended Wesley College. He later went on to the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree in 1890.
Business career
After graduation, Brookes spent a year in Queensland working on his father's pastoral leases. He then returned to Victoria to work in the mining industry, managing a series of small mines. In 1905, Brookes moved to Melbourne to work for Austral Otis, a large engineering firm. He became a director of the company in 1912. Brookes' father died in 1910, leaving him and his siblings an estate valued at £172,000. He received the chairmanship of Australian Paper Mills, and also managed the William Brookes & Co. pastoral holdings in Queensland and Western Australia. Brookes was president of the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures from 1913 to 1917.
Government work
Brookes served on the Board of Trade from 1918 to 1928 and the Tariff Board from 1922 to 1928. In 1929, Prime Minister Stanley Bruce appointed him Commissioner-General to the United States, working within the British embassy in Washington, D.C. as Australia did not have separate diplomatic representation at that time. He was recalled the following year to save money during the Depression. From 1932 to 1939, Brookes served on the board of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, including as vice-chairman; he was offered the chairmanship, but refused it due to his inability to secure a guarantee of independence from government control.
Community work and philanthropy
As a distinguished alumnus, Brookes served on the University of Melbourne's council from 1933 to 1947, where he was particularly active on its finance committee. He financed a new wing for the university's Conservatorium of Music, and contributed towards a house for the university's vice-chancellor. He was also involved in the creation of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Brookes held leadership positions in the Chautauqua Association, the League of Nations Union, and the English-Speaking Union. In 1906, he and his second wife established the T. E. Brown Society, which was initially devoted to the works of Thomas Edward Brown but later became more of a general literary society.
Political activities
Brookes assisted with the formation of the Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1909 and the formation of the Nationalist Party in 1917, although he was mainly active behind the scenes and never stood for public office himself. He was socially progressive, but considered the Labor Party too extreme. He was an advocate of profit sharing, adult education, and equal pay for women, all of which he introduced in his own companies, and campaigned for better working conditions in mines to eradicate miner's phthisis.
