Frank Browne was born in the
Sydney suburb of
Coogee to
New Zealand-born tailor Courtney Brown and Linda Veronica,
née Heckenberg. He attended Christian Brothers' College in
Waverley and went on to enter the
Royal Military College, having failed to win a
bursary for university. In August 1935 he was discharged and described as "temperamentally unsuited to the military profession"; Browne would later claim that he was in fact expelled as a result of an affair with an officer's wife. He also claimed (falsely) to have won a "gold pocket" for sporting excellence. After leaving the military Browne became a cadet journalist on ''
Smith's Weekly and then travelled to the United States, writing for the Chicago Tribune''. He boxed professionally as "Buzz Brown" in the
featherweight division. It was later rumoured that he had served with
communist forces in the
Spanish Civil War in 1937, receiving a
Soviet decoration after his wounding, a fact he later refused to confirm or deny. He returned to
Sydney in 1938. Browne is best remembered for his involvement in a
parliamentary privilege case in 1955.
Labor MP
Charles Morgan began the affair in May by objecting in parliament to a reference made in the
Bankstown Observer (of which Browne was the editor) alleging his involvement in "an immigration racket". The
standing committee on
parliamentary privilege found Browne and the
Observer's owner,
Raymond Fitzpatrick, in breach of said privilege, and the two were called before the Bar of the House on 20 June. Browne formed the Australian Party on his release, which enjoyed little success, and in the 1960s wrote a column for the
Daily Mirror. He contested the
Australian Senate unsuccessfully in 1974, and continued publishing
Things I Hear until 1977. In that year he travelled to
Rhodesia to work for
Ian Smith. He died in the Sydney suburb of
Darlinghurst in 1981 of
liver cirrhosis and was cremated. ==Books==