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Hazel Hawke (Masterson)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Death: May 23, 2013 (83)
New South Wales, Australia
Immediate Family:

Daughter of James Masterson and Edith Laura Masterson
Ex-wife of Bob Hawke, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia

Managed by: Pam Karp
Last Updated:

About Hazel Hawke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_Hawke

Hazel Hawke, AO (born 20 July 1929) is the former wife of Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia 1983–91. They divorced after he left the prime ministership. She worked in social policy areas, and was an excellent 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 and surrounding issues. She is now in high-level nursing care.

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 3 March 1956. They lived in Melbourne from 1958 to 1983, including during his term as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. 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.[1][2] Hawke proposed to his mistress in 1978, but later withdrew the offer saying "Divorce could cost Labor three per cent."[2][3] D'Alpuget was initially so upset at Hawke's decision not to leave Hazel that she considered suicide or killing him, but they reconciled and remained friends—so much so that she became his official biographer.[3] From 1980 to 1982 d'Alpuget worked closely with Hawke in preparing his 1982 biography. In 1988 Hawke and d'Alpuget resumed their affair[2][3] 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 were married in 1995.[2][3]

Hazel and Bob Hawke have three children: Susan Pieters-Hawke (born 1957), Stephen (born 1959) and Roslyn (born 1960). Their fourth child, Robert Jr, died in his early infancy in 1963.

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Hazel Hawke's Timeline

1929
July 20, 1929
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
2013
May 23, 2013
Age 83
New South Wales, Australia