The Hon Robert Hawke AC, former Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia
Born in 1929 in Bordertown, South Australia, Bob
Hawke graduated in law and economics from the
University of Western Australia. In 1955, he
graduated Bachelor of Letters from Oxford. In
1970, he was made President of the Australian
Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a position he
retained until 1980. He was President of the
Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1973-78 before
entering parliament in 1980. He led the ALP to
victory in the general election in 1983 and, in
winning three successive elections, became
Australia’s longest serving Labor Prime Minister.
Mr. Hawke was made a Companion of the Order of
Australia (AC) in 1979. He is an Honorary Fellow
at the University College of Oxford, was presented
with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by
the University of Western Australia, and holds
honorary doctorates from, among others, Nanjing
University of China, and the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. In March of 1999, Mr Hawke was
granted the Freedom of the City of London.