Bastian trained for ordination at
St Barnabas College, Adelaide, obtaining the
ThL from the
Australian College of Theology in 1943. He was ordained deacon in 1943 and priest in 1944. He served his curacy at St Mark's,
Bencubbin (1943-1944) and was then successively priest-in-charge of St John's,
Kununoppin (1944-1946), curate at
St John's, Fremantle (1946-1948), rector of
Holy Trinity, York (1948-1954), priest-in-charge of St Thomas of Canterbury,
Wyallagee (1954-1956), priest-in-charge of
Kensington (1956-1957), and diocesan registrar of the
Diocese of Perth (1959-1962). Overlapping with some of these appointments, he was also chaplain to the
Archbishop of Perth,
Robert Moline (1951-1962). He was then appointed as canon residentiary and sub-dean of St Boniface Cathedral in
Bunbury and also archdeacon of Albany (1963-1966). His last appointment before elevation to the episcopate was as archdeacon of Bunbury (1966-1968). In 1968, he was consecrated coadjutor bishop of Bunbury, with the title Bishop of Albany, in St Boniface Cathedral. His see was
St John's, Albany. He retired in 1979, shortly before his death. To date (2022), Bastian is the only appointment of a bishop of Albany. ==Personal life==