Arthur Clarence "Clem" Hawke (5 March 1898 – 23 December 1989) was the General Secretary of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

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 ...

1919–20, and a Congregationalist minister. He was the father of

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 ...

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 ...

1983–91; and brother of Bert Hawke, MHA for

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 ...

, South Australia 1924–27 and

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 ...

1953–59.

History

Born 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 ...

, he was a son of miner James Renfrey Hawke (25 September 186213 September 1930) and his wife Elizabeth Ann Hawke (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Pascoe; 31 December 186227 December 1946). Hawke left school at age 12 and worked at a number of jobs including blacksmithing while studying at the School of Mines in Kapunda. He trained for the ministry at

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

under Dr. William George Torr and served as Methodist home missionary at Forster in the South Australian

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

Port Neill Port Neill (formerly Carrow) is a small coastal town on the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula, in South Australia about 3 km off the Lincoln Highway (Australia), Lincoln Highway between the major towns of Whyalla and Port Lincoln. It is 576 ...

and Kalangadoo. In 1919 he became General Secretary of the

in South Australia. It was at Forster in 1919 that he met schoolteacher Edith Emily Lee. They married in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

the following year. He was ordained a Congregationalist minister and conducted services at the Halifax Street Congregational Mission. His first posting was to the Adelaide Hills town of

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

, which he carried off successfully, and during that time their first son Neil was born. He was posted to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

from 1923 and spent several years there before returning to South Australia, when he served at Renmark, then Bordertown from 1928 to 1935, living in the

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

on Farquhar Street. He was well received by the local population, both as a keen

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and footballer and for his thoughtful well-prepared sermons. It was here that

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

was born and spent his early years. Their next move was to

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

. In November 1939, after elder son Neil died of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, they moved to

West Leederville West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, a suburb of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, while Bob attended

Perth Modern School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , location = Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia , country = Australia , coordinates = , mapframe-stroke-colour = #C60C30 , mapframe-marker-co ...

and

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. Clem enlisted with the

2nd AIF The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

as chaplain with the rank of captain. After the war he was appointed minister to the Subiaco Congregational Church. His wife died in 1979 after a long stroke-induced illness. It was on his 85th birthday on 5 March 1983 that his son was elected Prime Minister. Clem returned to Bordertown in 1987 to unveil a bust of his famous son. Two years later he died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

at the Resthaven nursing home in the Adelaide suburb of

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

, having suffered deteriorating health for several weeks. Bob Hawke, who was particularly close to his father, said on the Channel 9 program ''A Current Affair'', "He's passed on to me the fundamental beliefs I have, and that is: we are in this world not just to advance our own interests but we owe an obligation to our fellow human beings".

Family

Clem Hawke married Edith Emily "Ellie" Lee (1 October 1896 – September 1979) in June 1920. They had two sons: *John Neil Hawke (1 March 1921 – 27 February 1939) * Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawke, Clem Australian Christian clergy Australian Congregationalist ministers 1898 births 1989 deaths People from Kapunda Parents of prime ministers of Australia Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers 20th-century Congregationalist ministers