Eric Willis

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Australian politician (1922–1999)

title: "Eric Willis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["premiers-of-new-south-wales", "1922-births", "1999-deaths", "university-of-sydney-alumni", "20th-century-australian-public-servants", "australian-army-officers", "australian-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "australian-monarchists", "liberal-party-of-australia-members-of-the-parliament-of-new-south-wales", "members-of-the-new-south-wales-legislative-assembly", "australian-companions-of-the-order-of-st-michael-and-st-george", "australian-knights-commander-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "treasurers-of-new-south-wales", "leaders-of-the-opposition-in-new-south-wales", "people-from-murwillumbah", "20th-century-australian-politicians", "ministers-for-education-(new-south-wales)"] description: "Australian politician (1922–1999)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Willis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian politician (1922–1999) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Sir Eric Willis
honorific-suffix
image	Sir Eric.jpg
caption	Willis 1965
order	34th Premier of New South Wales
term_start	23 January 1976
term_end	14 May 1976
monarch	Elizabeth II
governor	Sir Roden Cutler
deputy	Leon Punch
predecessor	Tom Lewis
successor	Neville Wran
order1	Minister for Education
term_start1	19 June 1972
term_end1	23 January 1976
premier1	Robert Askin
Tom Lewis
predecessor1	Sir Charles Cutler
successor1	Neil Pickard
office2	24th Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales
term_start2	14 May 1976
term_end2	16 December 1977
deputy2	John Maddison
predecessor2	Neville Wran
successor2	Peter Coleman
constituency_MP3	Earlwood
parliament3	New South Wales
term_start3	17 June 1950
term_end3	16 June 1978
predecessor3	New district
successor3	Ken Gabb
birth_date
birth_place	Murwillumbah, New South Wales
death_date
death_place	Sydney, New South Wales
party	Liberal Party
relations	Max Willis
allegiance	Australia
branch	Australian Army
serviceyears	1941–1958
rank	Major
unit	Intelligence Corps
Citizen Military Forces
awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
::

Sir Eric Archibald Willis (15 January 1922 – 10 May 1999) was the 34th Premier of New South Wales, serving from 23 January 1976 to 14 May 1976. Born in Murwillumbah in 1922, Willis was educated at Murwillumbah High School and the University of Sydney, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with double honours. Enlisting during World War II, Willis served on the homefront and later served in New Guinea and the Philippines. He continued to serve the Citizen Military Forces until 1958.

After serving a period as a geographer, Willis was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Earlwood in 1950. He rose to become a long-serving Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party from 1959 to 1975 under Robert Askin. When the Coalition won the 1965 election, Willis was made a Minister of the Crown as Chief Secretary, Minister for Labour and Industry, Tourism and Sport but rose to prominence in his role as Minister for Education from 1972 to 1976. When Askin retired in 1975, Willis failed in his attempts to succeed him.

Following the ousting of Askin's successor, Tom Lewis, by the party, Willis was elected as the Parliamentary Leader of the Liberal Party and subsequently became Premier. However, after only four months in office, his Liberal/National Country Party Coalition was defeated at the 1976 election by the Labor Party under Neville Wran. Continuing as Leader of the Opposition, Willis resigned in 1977 and retired from politics a year later. Thereafter he served in various organisations and directorships until his death in May 1999.

Early life

Willis was born in January 1922 in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, the first son of Archibald Clarence Willis (1893–1975), a butter factory hand and First World War veteran, and his wife, Vida Mabel Buttenshaw (1894–1984). His younger brother was NSW Legislative Council Member and President, Max Willis. He was educated at Tyalgum Public School and then at Murwillumbah High School, at which he was Dux of his year and won a scholarship to study arts at the University of Sydney.

He received a Bachelor of Arts with double honours in Modern History and Geography (BA (Hons)) from Sydney University in 1942. He continued to serve in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) from 1946, achieving the rank of major in 1948, until retiring in 1958. He married Norma Dorothy Thompson on 11 May 1951 and they had a daughter and two sons. Willis was employed as a senior geographer and investigation officer for Cumberland County Council

Political career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Willis_Deputy.jpg" caption="Willis on his election as Deputy Leader in July 1959."] ::

Willis joined the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia in 1945, after hearing a speech by Sir Robert Menzies. He sought preselection for the federal seat of Evans in the 1949 federal election but was defeated in favour of Frederick Osborne. Instead, he gained preselection for and contested the Labor seat of Lang and gained 45.3 per cent of the vote but was defeated by the sitting member, Dan Mulcahy.

At the June 1950 state election, at the age of 28, Willis was elected to the newly created Legislative Assembly seat of Earlwood, in the inner southwestern suburbs of Sydney, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament. He gained the seat with 55.53% against a single Labor candidate. He soon gained a reputation as rebel in the House, always attacking the Labor Speakers, and consequently being expelled from the house more than any other member. but at the following 1956 election, he increased his margin to 58.04%.

During his time as member for Earlwood, Willis catered to the changing demographics of his electorate by creating the first-ever Greek branch of the Liberal Party and formed the first Young Liberals branch in Australia, which counted among its recruits future Prime Minister John Howard (1996–2007). the Liberal leadership was vacated by Pat Morton. Willis declined to run for the leadership and Deputy Leader Robert Askin was made Leader. Willis then ran unopposed and subsequently became Deputy Leader.

Minister of the Crown

In 1965, the May general election ended 24 years of Labor government and began Willis's ministerial career, which spanned the entire length of the Coalition Government. After retaining his seat again with 59.95%, he was appointed to the post of Chief Secretary and Minister for Tourism by Premier Askin in May 1965 to June 1972.

Premier

Upon Askin's retirement in January 1975, Willis was seen as the favourite to take the premiership. However, despite Askin's initial support, Willis refused his help, preferring to gain the leadership on his own merits. Askin then put his support behind the Minister for Lands, Tom Lewis. Willis, sure he had support, refused to campaign, and the party put its support behind Lewis, leading to his election to Premier. Willis was then replaced as Deputy by John Maddison. For his service as Deputy Leader he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on 14 June 1975. Lewis was Premier for only one year and looked increasingly likely to lead the state Liberals to defeat. At the party room meeting on 20 January 1976, parliamentary backbencher Neil Pickard called a spill motion which carried 22 votes to 11. Lewis opted not to contest the ensuing leadership ballot, leaving Willis to take the leadership unopposed. Willis was then duly sworn in as Premier on 23 January, alongside his reconfigured Cabinet, by the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, Sir Laurence Street.

In his brief time as Premier he extensively reshuffled the cabinet, dropping five ministers in an attempt to distance himself from the past, including Steve Mauger and John Mason, and appointed new cabinet faces such as Pickard and David Arblaster.

When former Minister Steve Mauger resigned on 27 January 1976, sparking a by-election in his seat of Monaro in May, and early polls had indicated a large swing to Labor, Willis announced an early election on 1 May, thereby cancelling the by-election in the hope of preventing a larger move of voters against the government. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Willis_Cabinet.jpg" caption="Government House]] on 23 January 1976."] ::

The Willis-Punch Cabinet

Sir Eric Willis, Premier and Treasurer
Leon Punch, Deputy Premier, Minister for Public Works, Minister for Ports (CP)
John Maddison, Attorney General, Minister for Justice
Tim Bruxner, Minister for Transport, Minister for Highways (CP)
Neil Pickard, Minister for Education
Dick Healey, Minister for Health
Bruce Cowan, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Water Resources (CP)
Peter Coleman, Chief Secretary
Tom Lewis, Minister for Local Government
George Freudenstein, Minister for Mines, Minister for Energy (CP)
Sir John Fuller MLC, Minister for Planning and Environment, vice-president of the Executive Council (CP)
Max Ruddock, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Revenue
Frederick Hewitt MLC, Minister for Labour and Industry, Minister for Federal Affairs, Minister for Consumer Affairs
Ian Griffith, Minister for Housing, Minister for Co-operative Societies
David Arblaster, Minister for Culture, Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism
Milton Morris, Minister for Decentralisation and Development
Col Fisher, Minister for Lands, Minister for Forests (CP)
Jim Clough, Minister for Youth, Ethnic and Community Affairs

Later life

Opposition

After the election he retained the Liberal leadership but proved to be less than suited for opposition. On 19 January 1977, the Granville rail disaster claimed the lives of 83 people—the worst rail disaster in Australian history at the time. In response to this, Willis declared that there had never been as many deaths on the railways during the Liberal Government. The insensitive remark led several Liberal MLAs to introduce a no-confidence motion in Willis' leadership.}} On 16 December, he formally resigned as leader at the party meeting and was replaced by Peter Coleman.

After politics

On his retirement, he was permitted by Queen Elizabeth II, on the Governor's recommendation, to continue to use the title "The Honourable" for life. As a member of parliament he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (1953), and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977). After retiring from politics Willis held positions with the Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists and the Arthritis Foundation, of which he was executive director from 1984 to 1991. Willis also spent time as vice-president of the Red Cross (NSW Branch) and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of St George, a Member of the Australian Institute of Political Science and the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Willis left his residence in Bardwell Park and moved to Neutral Bay, where his marriage collapsed.

He divorced his first wife, Norma, and remarried to Lynn. He died in Sydney on 10 May 1999.

References

(12 May 1999). "Death of Sir Eric Archibald Willis KBE, a Former Premier of New South Wales". Hansard. Parliament of New South Wales.
He served in the [[Second Australian Imperial Force]] from 1941 to 1946 in [[Australian Army Intelligence Corps. link. (4 March 2016 WILLIS, ERIC ARCHIBALD)
"Eric Archibald Willis". New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(2 April 1949). "Liberals pick bank officer". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
Clune, David. (2006). "The Premiers of New South Wales 1856–2005: Volume 2, 1901–2005". Federation Press.
(DistrictIndexes). "Elections for the district of Earlwood".
(20 June 1950). "Won new seat". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
At the [[1953 New South Wales state election. February 1953 election]], Willis narrowly retained his seat with 50.33%,{{Cite NSW election. (1953)
{{Cite NSW election. (1956)
{{Cite NSW election. (1965)
(28 August 1975). "Willis Premier if he let me help". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
{{Cite It's an Honour. (14 June 1975)
Hancock, Ian. (2007). "The Liberals: The NSW Division 1945–2000". Federation Press.
"Swearing in of new Ministry under Sir Eric Willis". State Library of NSW.
Bramston, Troy. (2006). "The Wran era". Federation Press.
In the May 1976 election, Willis's government lost power to the [[Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch). Labor Party]] under [[Neville Wran]]. The election was notable for being very close run; with the seats of [[Electoral district of Gosford. Gosford]] and [[Electoral district of Hurstville
{{London Gazette. (8 June 1976)
(2 June 1953). "LIST OF CORONATION MEDAL AWARDS". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
(1 August 1977). "Government Gazette Notices". Commonwealth Of Australia Gazette.
"Sir Eric Archibald Willis (1922–1999)".

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