Introduction
Arthur Bruce Pie (18 May 1902 – 30 July 1962) was an Australian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
Early life
He was born in Coburg, Victoria and attended Caulfield Grammar School. A player with the Caulfield Grammarians Football Club (and its coach on 1926), he also played one senior game of Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League for Melbourne in 1926 and was the president of the Queensland National Football Association in the 1930s. Pie worked in Melbourne and Brisbane in the importing and textile manufacturing industries, and owned his own group of businesses.
Political career
Pie was elected to Queensland Parliament in 1941 as an independent Democrat, but resigned to contest the seat of Brisbane in the 1943 federal election. He was defeated by the incumbent George Lawson, and re-entered the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1944 as the Member for Windsor from the Queensland People's Party (QPP). Pie succeeded John Beals Chandler as the leader of the QPP in 1946, and served in this role until 1948. In 1950 he became the Member for Kedron as a Liberal Party politician, but he resigned from the Party following a dispute about parliamentary pay increases, and resigned from Parliament in 1951.
Pie visited the concentration camps of Nazi Germany in 1945 shortly after the end of the Third Reich, and published a book called Journey into Desolation after this experience.
Following his political career, Pie was a member and leader of several Brisbane clubs until his death.