Robert James Lee 'Bob' Hawke (1929-2019) served as Prime Minister, between 1983-1991. His 8 years in office made him the longest-serving Labor PM in Australian history. He was born in Border Town, South Australia, and grew up in Perth, where he attended the University of Western Australia. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. His father was a Congregationalist minister and his mother was a school teacher. On his return from England, he became involved in gthe labor movement, and entered Commonwealth Parliament, becoming PM within 3 years. Bob Hawke was a reforming PM, and aided by Treasurer Paul Keating, overthrew the protectionist economic policies that had dominated Australian economic policy. Bob Hawke was a popular PM, who left his mark on Autralia in many ways.

Bob Hawke rose quickly thru the ranks of the union movement to become the pm of Australia. He was well liked as the everyman larrikin prime minister