Bruce Eastick

Bruce Eastick
Eastick in 1973
Leader of the Opposition in South Australia
In office 15 March 1972 – 24 July 1975
Deputy	Robin Millhouse John Coumbe
Preceded by	Steele Hall
Succeeded by	David Tonkin
Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly
In office 11 October 1979 – 7 December 1982
Preceded by	Gil Langley
Succeeded by	Terry McRae
Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party[a]
In office 15 March 1972 – 24 July 1975
Preceded by	Steele Hall
Succeeded by	David Tonkin
Member for Light
In office 30 May 1970 – 11 December 1993
Preceded by	John Freebairn
Succeeded by	Malcolm Buckby
Mayor of Gawler
In office 6 July 1968 – 1 July 1972
In office 1 May 1993 – 6 May 2000
Succeeded by	Tony Piccolo
Alderman of the Gawler Council
In office 6 July 1963 – 1 July 1972
In office 1 May 1993 – 6 May 2000
Personal details
Born	Bruce Charles Eastick[1] (1927-10-25) 25 October 1927 (age 97)[1] Reade Park, South Australia, Australia
Political party	Liberal and Country League, Liberal Party of Australia (SA)
Parent(s)	Sir Thomas Eastick and Ruby Eastick (née Bruce)[1]

Bruce Charles Eastick, AM (born 25 October 1927) is a former South Australian politician, and was South Australian Leader of the Opposition from 1972 to 1975. He was a member of the Liberal and Country League (LCL), later renamed the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1974. He represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Light from 1970 to 1993.

Eastick was a member of the Gawler Council from 1963 to 1972,^[2][3] and served as mayor from 1968^[4] to 1972. He had a second stint as mayor from 1993^[5] to 2000.

Eastick was elected to the House of Assembly for Light, based on Gawler, in 1970. Two years later, after Steele Hall resigned as LCL leader, the party elected Eastick as his successor.

Eastick led his party to the 1973 and 1975 elections, losing both to the Don Dunstan-led South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. His term as leader saw the LCL, the state's main conservative party since 1932, formally rename itself as the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, although a separate state Country Party had been reformed in 1963. He was thus the only LCL leader to have never served as Premier.

Eastick also served as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly when his successor as South Australia Liberal leader, David Tonkin, was Premier from 1979 to 1982.

In 1996, Eastick was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), in recognition of his "service to the South Australian Parliament, local government and the community".^[6]

Eastick is the eldest son of Sir Thomas Charles ("Tom") Eastick.

• "Hon Dr Bruce Eastick AM". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2022.