Eric John Fitzgibbon (27 August 1936 – 24 January 2015) was an Australian politician representing 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 ...

. Born in

Taree, New South Wales Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural dis ...

, he attended the University of New England and became a teacher. He served on Cessnock City Council, and was mayor from 1981 to 1983. In 1984, he entered the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member for Hunter. He held the seat until 1996, when he retired. He was succeeded by his son,

Joel Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to: * Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name. * Joel (surname), a surname * Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazili ...

, who served as Minister for Defence. He died in 2015. Eric's grandson, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, plays for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

References

1936 births 2015 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hunter Members of the Australian House of Representatives University of New England (Australia) alumni 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub