Sir Charles Hart Bright (25 November 191216 May 1983) was a Justice of the

Supreme Court of South Australia The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court of the Australian state of South Australia. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in ...

and chancellor of

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

Early life

Bright was born on 25 November 1912 in Norwood, a suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, the second child of Baptist minister Charles Bright and his second wife Annie Florence (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Hollidge). He attended Scotch College and studied law at the University of Adelaide, following which he was admitted to the South Australian Bar on 15 December 1934.

Career

Bright started out working for Shierlaw, Frisby Smith & Romilly Harry, before becoming partners with O. C. Isaachsen in 1940. Bright served as full-time captain of the Australian Army Legal Department from 4 January 1943 till 1 November 1944, when he became a reserve officer. In 1945, Bright and Isaachsen had a new partner, Zelling, although their law firm was dissolved in 1954. Bright, who preferred commercial and tax-related cases, then partnered with D. B. McLeod. In 1961, he was appointed as president of the Law Society of South Australia, a post he held till 1963. From 1962 to 1963, he was a councillor at the Law Council of Australia. In October 1963, Bright became a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia. Bright was also active in the wider community. For instance, he sat on the Physiotherapists Board of South Australia for some ten years and was president of the Minda Home in Brighton for six years, which caters to individuals with mental disabilities. He was also vice-president of the Musica Viva Society of Australia and the Australian Red Cross Society in South Australia. Bright became the first pro-chancellor of the South Australia-based

, and chaired its finance and buildings committee. In 1971, he became the university's chancellor, taking over Sir Mark Mitchell. Bright retired from the bench in December 1978 and was knighted in 1980. In view of his declining health, he stepped down as chancellor in 1983.

Personal life and death

Bright was raised as a Protestant. On 31 August 1940, Bright married doctor Elizabeth Holden (née Flaxman), whose great-grandfather was

Charles Flaxman Charles Flaxman (25 December 1806 – November 1869) was employed by George Angas as his chief clerk. Flaxman received a loan from Angas to invest in land in South Australia. He travelled to Australia aboard the ''Prince George'' in 1838. He to ...

. They had a daughter and two sons. After resigning as chancellor of Flinders University, Bright was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

on 13 May 1983. He died on 16 May 1983 in his home in North Adelaide. The cause of death was cancer. Bright's book on his wife's great-grandfather, whom he had researched on while studying for a postgraduate degree in history at Flinders University, was posthumously released in the same year. The Sir Charles Bright Scholarship Trust was set up in 1985 for disabled South Australians looking to pursue tertiary education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Charles Hart 1912 births 1983 deaths Judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia People from Adelaide Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Chancellors of Flinders University Deaths from cancer in South Australia