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Aboriginal Peoples are advised the Library Collection contains images, voices and names of deceased people in physical and online resources.

The Library recognises the significance of the traditional cultural knowledges contained within its Collection. The Library acknowledge some materials contain language that may not reflect current attitudes, was published without consent or recognition, or, is offensive. These materials reflect the views of the authors and/or the period in which they were produced and do not represent the views of the Library.

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Bob Hawke Collection

The Bob Hawke Collection, held in the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library at the University of South Australia, commemorates the achievements and legacy of the Hon Robert (Bob) James Lee Hawke AC (1929-2019), the longest serving Labor Prime Minister. 

The Collection documents Hawke's career, from ACTU Research Officer and ACTU President to his election as the Member for Wills, and his career and business interests following his resignation from Parliament. Some personal papers are also included. While the Collection does include some materials that date from Hawke’s terms as Prime Minister of Australia, most records relating to that period of his career can be found at the National Archives of Australia.

The Collection includes correspondence, papers, speeches, photographs, campaign material, books, audio-visual materials, gifts and memorabilia.

Access and explore the collection

 

The Collection is housed  in the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library at the University of South Australia City West Campus. Access is by appointment only. Contact Ask the Library for further help or to make an appointment.

 

You can explore the Collection by browsing Collection Discovery or searching the Special Collections Catalogue.

These Finding Aids help you explore the Bob Hawke Collection and navigate it’s over 300 archival series. The Finding Aids are either structured by item type (e.g. photographs, correspondence) or by theme (e.g. International Relations).

The Finding Aids guide you to relevant series, folders and items primarily housed in the Bob Hawke Collection, but also other UniSA-held Special Collections and Australian collecting institutions. The Library continues to develop new finding aids.

Bob Hawke Collection finding aids:

Prime Minister, Bob Hawke giving the opening speech of The Tax Summit at Parliament House in Canberra, 1 July 1985 (reference: NAA A6180, 2/7/85/3)

Written speeches and transcripts

The Bob Hawke Collection holds over a thousand records of prepared and transcribed dialogue publicly made by the Hon Bob Hawke, including as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), President of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the federal Member for the Division of Wills, Prime Minister of Australia, and in his post-Parliament life. This dialogue is in the form of prepared speeches, including speaking notes, and transcripts of media events such as interviews, press conferences, doorstops, and comments.

The speeches and transcripts were received from Hawke personally or from part of his estate. They are arranged in series (or sub-collections) which reflect the original recordkeeping processes where possible, but in some instances follow an artificial arrangement.

The series relating to speeches contain handwritten notes, typed versions, annotated drafts, final scripts, and transcripts. Due to the recordkeeping used by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), individual series with contents dating 1983 to 1991 consist of a mixture of speaking notes, final versions, and transcripts of speeches. As a result, it is not always clear whether a text held is what Hawke said or merely what he intended to say.

Like official copies of speeches, the PMO prepared transcripts of media interactions to be shared for the purpose of ongoing reference and research, speechwriting, and distribution with media agencies. The series relating to transcripts mostly date from Hawke’s service as Prime Minister.

Speeches and transcripts available from Hawke’s service with the ACTU include:

Speeches and transcripts available from Hawke’s service preceding his prime ministership, including the 1983 federal election campaign, include:

Speeches and transcripts available from Hawke’s service as Prime Minister include:

After his parliamentary life, Hawke drafted many speeches and speaking notes in pen before his private secretary typed them up and printed them out for him to review and deliver. Speeches and transcripts available from Hawke’s service post-Parliament include:

Some speeches and transcripts can be searched for and viewed in the UniSA Library catalogue. Many more speeches and transcripts can be found by viewing the digital scans of item lists, which are available for most series. Additionally, the following series consist of original indexes that were used by the Prime Minister’s Office:

Additionally, please contact Ask the Library with enquiries about further searching and access to speeches and transcripts.

Note that this research guide does not cover speeches and media interviews in the Collection that were recorded using audio-visual media, such as audio and VHS cassette tapes.

 

Bob Hawke enters the tally room on election night, 5 March 1983.
(References: Bob Hawke Collection, RH148/F35B/2; NAA A6180, 7/3/83/1)

Photographs

The Bob Hawke Collection contains over two thousand photographs which record the public and personal life of the Hon Bob Hawke. The photographs date from early childhood through to the final months before his passing. Most of the photographs in the Bob Hawke Collection were either received from Hawke personally or from part of his estate. The photographs originate from a variety of sources, including Hawke’s family and friends, constituents, colleagues, federal government agencies and leaders of foreign governments.

For the most part the photographs have been arranged into series (or sub-collections) based on the periods within Hawke’s life. Where possible, archival work undertaken has endeavoured to maintain the original order of the photographs rather than use artificial arrangements.

Photograph series from Hawke’s public service, including with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Australian Labor Party (ALP) and as a parliamentarian, include:

Photograph series from Hawke’s personal and family life include:

Photographs relating to Hawke, but not contributed by him to the Bob Hawke Collection, include:

These series generally consist of photographic prints (photographs) produced using various printing techniques, including use of gelatin silver, Kodachrome film, dye diffusion transfer (Polaroid film) and printout of digital image files. Some photographs are available with related correspondence, negatives, or proofs.

UniSA Library is currently cataloguing photographs in these series. If you are unable to find a photograph on your subject of interest, please contact Ask the Library. Note that these series do not consist of photographs printed in media, such as newspapers or magazines, nor photographs that have incidentally been kept in subject files belonging to other series. For further enquiries, please contact Ask the Library.

A Journey Through the Archive


The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library and The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre presented a public talk and exhibition as part of the 2019 South Australia History Festival. The talk can be viewed in full in the video above (57 min 11 sec).

Biography

 

The Hon Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke AC was born in Bordertown, South Australia in 1929. He was educated at the University of Western Australia, University of Oxford and the Australian National University (ANU). Prior to completing his studies at ANU, Hawke joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) as a research officer, later becoming the ACTU president from 1969 to 1980.

 

​Hawke joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) while at university. He entered parliament in 1980 as the Member for Wills and in 1983 was elected as the ALP Leader. Later that year Hawke won the election and became Prime Minister. Under his leadership, the ALP went on to win the next three elections, making Hawke the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister in Australian history. Throughout his term, Hawke focused on public health care (establishing Medicare), education, human rights and reforms in economics, environmental policy and international affairs.

In 1991, Hawke resigned as Prime Minister and in 1992, he resigned from politics.  The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre was established in 1997, along with the Hawke Institute (now known as UniSA Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence) and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library. Hawke continued to lend a voice to national issues and remained a strong supporter of the Australian Labor Party until his death on 16 May 2019.

Discover more



Resources in other collections


Featuring Bob Hawke


More about Bob Hawke