Albert Redvers George Hawke (3 December 1900 – 14 February 1986) was the 18th

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

. He served from 23 February 1953 to 2 April 1959, and represented the Labor Party. Hawke was born in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and began his political career in that state, winning a seat in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

at the 1924 state election. He was only 23 at the time, making him the youngest MP in South Australia's history. Hawke lost his seat at the 1927 election, and moved to Western Australia the following year. At the 1933 state election in Western Australia, which saw a Labor landslide, he unexpectedly defeated the sitting

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

premier, Sir James Mitchell, in the seat of Northam. In May 1936, Hawke became a minister in the government of

Philip Collier Philip Collier (21 April 1873 – 18 October 1948) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th Premier of Western Australia from 1924 to 1930 and from 1933 to 1936. He was leader of the Labor Party from 1917 to 1936, and is Western Aus ...

. He later also served as a minister in the governments of

John Willcock John Collings Willcock (9 August 1879 – 7 June 1956) was the 15th Premier of Western Australia, serving from 1936 until 1945. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party. Early life John Willcock was born at Frogmoor (now Frogmore), New So ...

and

Frank Wise Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO (30 May 1897 – 29 June 1986) was a Labor Party politician who was the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of ...

, and was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party in July 1945. Hawke succeeded Wise as party leader in June 1951, and led Labor to victory at the 1953 state election. He retained government at the 1956 election, just a year after the 1955 party split, but was defeated in 1959 after just over six years in office. Hawke continued as Labor leader until December 1966, leading the party to two more elections, and left parliament at the 1968 election. His nephew,

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

, served as the 23rd

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

from March 1983 to December 1991.

Early life

Hawke was born to James Renfrey Hawke and Elizabeth Ann Blinman ''née'' Pascoe, both of Cornish descent, in

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

. Leaving school at the age of 13, he took up an apprenticeship as a clock-maker and jeweller, before working in a lawyer's office and joining the Labor Party at 15.

Political career

At the age of 23 in the April 1924 elections he won the seat of

Burra Burra Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

, making him the youngest person to have won a seat in that parliament. After losing the seat by just 11 votes in the following 1927 election, he moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1928, becoming a country organizer for the ALP. In 1933 he caused a major political upset by defeating the sitting Premier Sir James Mitchell by 460 votes in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

seat of Northam. Mitchell had held the seat for 28 years previously. Hawke held the seat himself for 35 years until the 1968 general elections for which he did not re-nominate. During his Western Australian parliamentary career he was appointed Minister for Employment and Labour in 1936 in the Collier and

Willcock Willcock and similar can mean: *Alex Willcock, the founder and CEO of Imagini the owner of VisualDNA technology *Amy Willcock, an American-born British-based cookery book writer, who having specialised in cooking on the AGA cooker *Chris Willcock, ...

governments. He also held the positions of Minister for Labour and Industrial Development (1939), Minister for Works, Water Supplies and Industrial Development (1943). After Labor's defeat in the 1947 elections he held various shadow portfolios before becoming

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

on 3 July 1951 after

resigned. In the 23 February 1953 elections he led Labor to victory over the two-term

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

government of Sir Ross McLarty, becoming Premier as well as Treasurer and Minister for Child Welfare and Industrial Development. In June 1953, Hawke attended the coronation of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In social policy, Hawke's governments enacted a series of progressive social reforms including the gradual easing of some oppressive regulations on Aborigines in WA, an accelerated construction of houses and schools, increases in workers' compensation payments, allowing women to sit on juries, the regulation of hire purchase transactions, and the raising of the school-leaving age to 15. One investigation of the

Magdalene asylums Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestantism, Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "Fallen woman, fallen women" ...

(convent laundries) was undertaken - in 1953, in Western Australia. Hawke, responded to concerns of parliamentarians about the

orphanages An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...

and children's homes by inviting Richard Henry Hicks, head of the NSW Department of

Child Welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

, to carry out an independent investigation. His report laid most of the blame on government financial niggardliness, but criticised some odd targets, all of which persuaded Hawke to remove all three copies before anyone other than himself, a handful of colleagues and a favoured journalist had seen it.

Later life and death

Labor lost the March 1959 election to

David Brand Sir David Brand KCMG (1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1945 to 1975, and also the 19th and longest-serving Premi ...

's Liberals. Nevertheless Hawke stayed on as opposition leader until a year after the 1965 election. In 1968 he retired from parliament. Thereafter he lived in South Australia again, and died in Adelaide in 1986.

Personal life

In 1926, Hawke married Mabel Crafter, and they had a daughter. Hawke's brother,

Clem Hawke Arthur Clarence "Clem" Hawke (5 March 1898 – 23 December 1989) was the General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party in South Australia 1919–20, and a Congregationalist minister. He was the father of Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Austra ...

, a Congregational minister, was the father of

from 1983 to 1991.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Ross McMullin, The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawke, Albert 1900 births 1986 deaths Deputy Premiers of Western Australia Premiers of Western Australia Leaders of the Opposition in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian people of Cornish descent Treasurers of Western Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from Kapunda 20th-century Australian politicians