In late October 1919, farmers and graziers formed a Northern Tableland Progressive Party Electoral Council at Glen Innes, followed by a further meeting on November 4, which was convened and addressed by Arthur Trethowan, the President of the Farmers and Settlers' Association (FSA).
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Trethowan provided details of the new party and suggested that its object was 'to secure direct country representation in the Federal and State Parliaments'.
Those attending the meeting found that they may have had a name but they certainly had no political organisation to put Trethowan's objective into effect. It was therefore decided to ask David Drummond to take on the position of electorate organiser.
The invitation was a sign of how far the deaf, poorly educated ward of the state had come since his arrival in Armidale as 17-year-old farm labourer on that cold day in 1907.
From his arrival his arrival in the Inverell district in 1912 and especially after his marriage to Pearl in 1913, Drummond had become actively involved in the small farming community around Oakwood. He and Pearl played tennis, he became an active member of the FSA and also became a Methodist lay preacher.
To improve his preaching, he taught himself public speaking, practicing while riding around the property, addressing the paddocks. He had no tutor, but used self-help books given to him by his brothers.
Years later, his grandson would use the same books to learn the art of projection.
Years after that, the same techniques would be taught to his great granddaughters as they learned to project their voices in whispers down the corridors of Sydney's' semi-detached houses.
The powerful sonorous voice that Drummond developed would become one of his political weapons, capable of reaching a large open air audience without the aid of loud speakers.
It was as a Methodist lay preacher that Drummond met Ernest Christian Sommerlad, a fellow lay preacher and man that would be critical to Drummond's successful entry to politics.
Sommelad, the youngest of twelve children of German parents John Henry Sommerlad, Tenterfield farmer, and his wife Louisa Wilhelmina, née Marstella, was four years older than Drummond.
A devout Christian, Sommerlad had wanted to become a missionary. Thwarted by poor health, he had turned to journalism and was editor of the Inverell Argus when he first met Drummond.
In 1918 Sommerlad purchased the Glen Innes Examiner with a bank loan guaranteed by local business men. This would give the little known Drummond a powerful platform.
For the moment, Drummond had to decide whether to accept the request to become Northern Tablelands organiser for the new Progressive Party. He agreed to do so, but with conditions that would later prove critical.
