Bruce John Goodluck (14 May 1933 – 24 October 2016) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1975 to 1993, representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in the Tasmanian seat of

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

. He later represented

in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

as an independent from 1996 to 1998.

Early life

Goodluck was born on 14 May 1933 in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, Tasmania. His mother left the family when he was seven years old and he was raised by his father Harry who worked as a boiler attendant at

Boyer Boyer () is a French surname. In rarer cases, it can be a corruption or deliberate alteration of other names. Origins and statistics Boyer is found traditionally along the Mediterranean (Provence, Languedoc), the Rhône valley, Auvergne, Limou ...

. Goodluck spent his early years living in

Dromedary The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius''), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel and one-humped camel, is a large camel of the genus '' Camelus'' with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three camel species; adult males sta ...

, living in a house without electricity. He and his family later moved to the rural locality of Bundella on the Derwent River. At the age of thirteen he received an award from the Royal Humane Society of Australasia after rescuing a drowning child from the Derwent. Goodluck received his early schooling from the state school at

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

. He went on to attend Hobart High School, where he captained the school's cricket and football teams. His father died when he was 15 years old. At the age of 16, Goodluck was scouted by the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

and moved to Victoria. He briefly played in the VFL thirds but soon returned to Tasmania. After leaving school, Goodluck worked for Eastern Shore Motors which was later taken over by the

Golden Fleece Company Golden Fleece was an Australian brand of petroleum products and service stations operated by Harold Sleigh and Company, a business founded in Melbourne, Australia in 1893 by shipowner and merchant Harold Crofton Sleigh (1867–1933) and manufa ...

. He eventually ran his own service station at

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

for 15 years and also established a tyre company. He was state president of the Australian Automobile Chamber of Commerce from 1971 to 1974 and also served a term as national president.

Politics

Goodluck was elected warden of the Clarence Municipality in 1972. He rose to public prominence in 1975 following the

Tasman Bridge disaster The Tasman Bridge disaster occurred on the evening of 5 January 1975, in Hobart, the capital city of Australia's island state of Tasmania, when the bulk carrier , travelling up the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, collided with seve ...

, which saw Clarence cut off from central Hobart, and was "active in agitating on behalf of the Eastern Shore community which had been isolated by the disaster". Goodluck was invited to the join the Liberal Party and was elected to the

at the 1975 federal election, defeating long-term incumbent

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

MP Ray Sherry in the seat of

. The election results saw the Liberal Party win all five House seats in Tasmania following a backlash against the

Whitlam government The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 Australian federal elect ...

. Despite Franklin's reputation as a safe Labor seat at state level, Goodluck was re-elected to parliament on six occasions. He remained a

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

throughout his parliamentary service and

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

to vote against the Liberals on a number occasions. According to the ''

Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'', he "astutely selected a number of populist issues on which to rebel against the party line", including opposing the

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

's abolition of pensioner funeral benefits and failure to index pensions. His campaign materials did not mention the Liberal Party, and described himself as "the little grub battl ngfor the underdog" and "the little Aussie battler". Goodluck announced his retirement due to ill health in December 1992, following two mild strokes. He retired at the 1993 federal election. In 1996 he returned to politics as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

member of the

for the state seat of

; he retired in 1998.

Personal life and honours

Goodluck had five daughters with his wife Cynthia. In 2000 Bruce Goodluck was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM). In 2001 he was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

. He died at the age of 83 on 24 October 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodluck, Bruce 1933 births 2016 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Tasmania Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Franklin Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Members of the Order of Australia Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993