Albert Hawke

Albert Redvers George "Bert" Hawke (3 December 1900 – 14 February 1986) was an Australian politician who served as the 18th Premier of Western Australia.

Early life

Hawke was born to James Renfrey Hawke and Elizabeth Ann Blinman née Pascoe, both of Cornish descent, in Kapunda, South Australia. 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 Australian Labor Party at 15.

Political career

At the age of 23 in the April 1924 elections he won the seat of Burra Burra in the South Australian House of Assembly, 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 in 1928, becoming a country organiser 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 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.