Edric Bastyan
Governor of South Australia and Tasmania (1903–1980)
Lieutenant-General Sir Edric Montague Bastyan, (5 April 1903 – 6 October 1980) was a senior British Army officer, who became Governor of South Australia from 4 April 1961 until 1 June 1968 then Governor of Tasmania from 2 December 1968 until 30 November 1973. He was the last British person to be governor of either state.
Military career
After completing his studies at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Bastyan was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Sherwood Foresters on 30 August 1923, and promoted to lieutenant on 30 August 1925. He was promoted to captain in the West Yorkshire Regiment on 4 April 1935 and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1936 to 1937, transferring to the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1937, and seeing service in Palestine from 1938 to 1939. Bastyan was promoted to major on 30 August 1940.
From November 1939 to June 1941, during the Second World War, Bastyan served as a GSO II in Palestine with the Royal Irish Fusiliers and was mentioned in despatches in March 1941. He served as assistant quarter-master general in the Middle East from July 1941 to May 1942, subsequently as deputy director of the Higher Commander's Course from May to October of that year. Bastyan was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in September 1942, by which time he was a temporary lieutenant colonel. He was promoted to temporary brigadier the following month and confirmed as a war substantive lieutenant colonel in November 1942. Bastyan served as a temporary brigadier (quartermaster) from then until January 1944, when he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Edric Bastyan” as governor of South Australia and Tasmania (1903–1980). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as governor of South Australia and Tasmania (1903–1980). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1287644. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1980, 1961 and 1968.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Edric Bastyan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Edric Bastyan primary sources, Edric Bastyan archive and Edric research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Edric Bastyan”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Edric Bastyan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.