Hazel Hawke

Hazel Susan Hawke, AO (née Masterson, 20 July 1929 – 23 May 2013) was a prominent Australian who 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.

Biography

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.