Jacob Brache

(1827 - 1905)

Brache was one of a number of Victorian civil servants who selected Northcote as their home in the 1850s and 60s. Amongst this number were Nememhiah Wimble, Secretary of the Lands Department and Sir Andrew Clarke, Surveyor General of Victoria. Brache lived on the east side of Rucker’s Hill, in James Street. The Prussian born engineer had made his reputation on the goldfields of Ballarat and Castlemaine. In 1855 he was selected to the position of Secretary of the Select Committee on Gold. This later led to the position of Secretary of the Royal Commission into Mining Resources. Brache moved to Northcote in 1865 and lived there until his death in 1905. Despite losing a large amount of money in failed coal mining ventures in Moe, Brache continued to make a living as a civil and mining engineer. He is buried in the German Cemetery in Separation Street, Northcote.

Pike, Douglas (1969). Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1851 – 1890. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.