Robert James Lee Hawke

Bob Hawke served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia between 1983 and 1991. His connection with the University of South Australia (UniSA) was formalised in 1997 with a Memorandum of Understanding that led to the creation of the Hawke Institute (later Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre) and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library. 

Several biographers have documented Hawke's life and career in thorough detail. Key events are outlined below:

Childhood and adolescence

Robert James Lee Hawke was born in the South Australian township of Bordertown to Clem and Edith (Ellie) Hawke. Clem worked as a minister for the Congregationalist Church, while Ellie was a schoolteacher. Bobby, as he was affectionately known as, was the second child of Clem and Ellie, with Neil having been born seven years earlier. 

In 1935, when Hawke was five years old, Clem and Ellie moved their family to the Yorke Peninsula. Clem began serving as the Congregationalist minister in Maitland. 

Hawke's brother, Neil, died from meningitis in 1939 at the age of 18. Following their period of mourning, Clem and Ellie relocated the family to Perth. Hawke began schooling at West Leederville Primary School before progressing to Perth Modern School, where he graduated in 1946. 

Study at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and Oxford University. 

In 1947, Hawke commenced study for Bachelors of Arts and Laws (UWA). While studying at UWA, Hawke was successfully elected as President of the UWA Student Guild. 

Hawke graduated from UWA in 1952. In November, he was successful in attaining Western Australia's Rhodes Scholarship for 1952 and travelled to Oxford the following year. Hawke graduated with a Bachelor of Letters at University College, Oxford, in 1955. His thesis focused on appraising wage arbitration in Australia. 

Post-doctoral study in Canberra

Following the completion of his studies in Oxford, Hawke returned to Australia in 1956. He was awarded a research scholarship to the Australian National University (ANU), where he would soon commence writing a doctoral thesis on the basic wage. Hawke and his wife, Hazel, recently married, relocated from Perth to Canberra for him to undertake his research. 

Hawke never completed his work on this thesis, as in 1958 he was pursued to work as a Research Officer for the Australian Council of Trade Unions. 

Career with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

Bob and Hazel Hawke, with first-born daughter Susan, relocated from Canberra to Melbourne in 1958 for him to commence work as a Research Officer and advocate for the ACTU. Hawke’s early career with the ACTU was a period of growing network of connections between him and many union representatives, as well as a thriving reputation as a successful advocate at basic wage cases. Bob and Hazel's other children, Stephen and Rosslyn, were born early on in Hawke's ACTU career. 

During this period Hawke made his first attempt to enter politics, contesting the seat of Corio at the 1963 federal election. 

Hawke was elected President of the ACTU at the 1969 ACTU Congress and served as President until September 1980. 

While serving as President of the ACTU, Hawke also served as President of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1973 to 1978. 

Career in Australian politics

Hawke announced his intention to enter politics and while completing his service with the ACTU on 30 September 1980, campaigned for the ALP in the 1980 Federal election. At the federal election on 18 October 1980 Hawke was appointed to the House of Representatives as the Member for Wills in Victoria.

While representing the local electorate as the Member for Wills during his first term, Hawke also represented the ALP as the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth. 

After Bill Hayden resigned as Leader of the ALP on 8 February 1983, the ALP caucus elected Hawke in his place. Hawke led the ALP to a landslide victory in the 1983 Federal election and became Prime Minister of Australia on 11 March 1983. He led the ALP to further victories at the 1984, 1987 and 1990 elections. 

Under Hawke's leadership as Prime Minister, the government implemented a suite of reforms contributing to the creation of modern Australia. These reforms include the launching of Medicare, banking deregulation, floating the Australian dollar, passing the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, launching the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia, and several actions to protect the environment, including advocacy for the banning of mining in Antarctica, protecting the Daintree Rainforest, and setting Australia's first carbon emissions reduction target. 

Hawke lost the prime ministership to Paul Keating on 20 December 1991 and resigned as the Member for Wills on 20 February 1992. In serving nearly nine years as Prime Minister, Hawke became the longest serving Labor Prime Minister in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia. 

Post-parliamentary life and career

Following his retirement from Parliament, Hawke pursued numerous business, media, charitable and scholarly interests. He based himself in Sydney, but travelled extensively across Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.  

Within a couple years of resigning from Parliament, Hawke ended his relationship with Hazel and later married Blanche d'Alpuget in July 1995. 

Hawke passed away at his Northbridge home on 16 May 2019.