Gordon Munro Bryant (3 August 1914 – 14 January 1991) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

(ALP) and represented the

Division of Wills The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently represented by Peter Khalil of the Australian Labor Party. The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Moreland in Melbourne's north, in ...

in Victoria from 1955 to 1980. He served as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (1972–1973) and Minister for the Capital Territory (1973–1975) in the Whitlam Government.

Early life

Bryant was born on 3 August 1914 in

Lismore, Victoria Lismore is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Hamilton Highway west of Melbourne. It is part of the Corangamite Shire local government area. At the 2016 census, Lismore had a population of 420. History The area was first settled by ...

. He was the son of Agnes Keith (née Bain) and Donald Munro Bryant. His father, a storekeeper and farmer, was the nephew of Victorian premier James Munro. Bryant moved to Baxter as a child and attended Frankston High School. He won a teaching scholarship and taught at Callaghan Creek (near Mitta Mitta),

Pearcedale Pearcedale is a township and coastal rural locality in Victoria, Australia, 49 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey and the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government areas. Pearce ...

, and Mittyack. His teaching career was interrupted by the Second World War, but after the war's end he became a high school teacher at Upwey. He completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

( Hons.) at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

in 1950, having also studied at

Melbourne Teachers' College The Melbourne Teachers' College was an Australian tertiary training institution located on Grattan Street, Carlton. It was renamed the Melbourne State College and then the Melbourne College of Advanced Education. In 1989 it became part of the Un ...

before the war.

Military service

Bryant enlisted in the

Citizen Military Force The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...

in 1934. He was called up for full-time duty in 1942 and was transferred to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in January 1943. He remained in Australia until 1945, when he participated in the Battle of Balikpapan as a captain in the 2/33rd Battalion.

Politics

Bryant was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1955. A passionate supporter of land rights, he was president of the

Aborigines Advancement League The Aboriginal Advancement League was founded in 1957 as the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL), is the oldest Aboriginal rights organisation in Australia still in operation. Its precursor organisations were the Australian Abori ...

for seven years, from 1957 to 1964. After seventeen years in Parliament, Bryant joined the Cabinet of Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the h ...

, becoming Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in 1972. A year later he became Minister for the Capital Territory. As Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, he was instrumental in the Whitlam Government's historic land rights deal with

Vincent Lingiari Vincent Lingiari (13 June 1908 or 1919 – 21 January 1988) was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist and member of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were g ...

and the Gurindji people. Bryant retired in 1980, and his electorate was taken over by future Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

. Bryant had earlier resisted pressure to retire early in order to expedite Hawke's entry to Parliament via a by-election.

Personal life

Bryant died in January 1991, eleven months prior to Hawke's ousting as Prime Minister. He is survived by his wife, Pat, who died in 2003, and two sons, Robin and Linton.

References

*Australian House of Representatives HANSARD, "DEATH OF HON. G.M. BRYANT, E.D.", 1991-02-12 (excerpt availabl
online
. *"PM lent hand to land rights", Karen Middleton, ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...

'', 2004-01-01. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Gordon 1914 births 1991 deaths Military personnel from Victoria (Australia) Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers 1975 Australian constitutional crisis Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian schoolteachers Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wills Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian military personnel