Percy Brookfield spent his childhood in England before going to sea at the age of thirteen. He 'jumped ship' in Melbourne in 1890 and prospected in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland before settling in Broken Hill. A militant unionist, Brookfield was active in the Amalgamated Miners' Association. He stood for the Legislative Assembly seat of Sturt in 1917 and won office, although he found himself in conflict with the Parliamentary Labor Party.
'On 22 March 1921 Brookfield was shot on Riverton railway station, South Australia, while trying to disarm Koorman Tomayoff, a deranged Russian who had already wounded two people; he died that day in Adelaide Hospital and was buried in Broken Hill cemetery, where a memorial headstone was unveiled in 1922.'
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Brookfield, written by Robin Gollan and Moira Scollay.