Hazel Hawke
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Hazel Hawke AO |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia | |
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In office 11 March 1983 – 20 December 1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Tamie Fraser |
| Succeeded by | Annita Keating |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Hazel Susan Masterson 20 July 1929 Perth, Western Australia |
| Died | 23 May 2013 (aged 83) Hammondville, New South Wales |
| Cause of death | Alzheimer's disease |
| Political party | Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) |
Robert Hawke, Sr. (m. 1956; div. 1995) |
| Children |
Susan Pieters-Hawke Stephen Hawke Roslyn Dillon-Hawke Robert Hawke, Jr. (deceased) |
| Occupation |
Academic Musician (pianist) |
| Profession | |
| Known for |
Spouse of the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia |
| Website | Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library |
Hazel Susan Hawke, AO (née Masterson, 20 July 1929 – 23 May 2013) was a prominent Australian who was the first wife of Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia (and the longest serving Prime Minister of the ALP) from 1983 to 1991. They divorced in 1995. She worked in social policy areas, and was an amateur pianist and a patron of the arts. After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she made public appearances in order to raise awareness of the disease.
Hazel Masterson was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1929. She met her future husband Bob Hawke at a church fellowship in Perth. They married on March 3, 1956. They lived in Melbourne from 1958 to 1983, including during his term as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (1969-1980). Bob spent much of his time in Canberra after his election to Parliament in 1980. After he became Prime Minister on 11 March 1983, the family lived in The Lodge in Canberra, until Hawke was replaced as Prime Minister by Paul Keating in December 1991.
During their marriage, Bob Hawke had an affair with Blanche d'Alpuget in the 1970s. Hawke proposed to his mistress in 1978, but later withdrew the offer saying that a divorce from Hazel could cost Hawke three percent (3%) of the vote to elect the latter to a safe seat. D'Alpuget was initially so upset at Hawke's decision not to leave Hazel that she considered either assassinating him or taking her own life, but they reconciled and remained friends; so much so that she became his official biographer. From 1980 to 1982 d'Alpuget worked closely with Hawke in preparing his 1982 biography. In 1988 Hawke and d'Alpuget resumed their affair but he remained ostensibly committed to his wife during his prime ministership. After he left office in 1991, he and Hazel announced their separation and later divorced. Hawke and d'Alpuget married in 1995.
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