- Hazel Hawke
Hazel Hawke, AO (nee Masterson) (born in Perth,
20 July 1929 ) is anAustralia n who has worked in social policy areas; however she is best known for her marriage to former Australian Prime MinisterBob Hawke . More recently, she has appeared in public with her family after her diagnosis withAlzheimer's disease in order to raise awareness of the disease and surrounding issues.Marriage to Bob Hawke
Hawke met her future husband Bob Hawke at a church fellowship in Perth. They married on
March 3 ,1956 . They lived inMelbourne from 1958 until 1983, although Bob Hawke spent much of his time inCanberra after his election to parliament in 1980. After he became Prime Minister onMarch 11 ,1983 , the family lived inThe Lodge in Canberra until Hawke was replaced as Prime Minister byPaul Keating in 1991.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.
Hazel and Bob Hawke divorced in 1995.
Abortion
Hazel Hawke has acted as a prominent
pro-choice advocate inAustralia , often drawing on her personal experience of having an illegal abortion in 1952 so that her future husband, the future prime ministerBob Hawke , could further his education at theUniversity of Oxford .Alzheimer's disease
On
November 3 ,2003 , the ABC aired an episode of "Australian Story " in which Hawke publicly revealed that she was suffering fromAlzheimer's disease . Her family had noticed significant short-term memory loss in 2002, leading to the diagnosis. She had been reluctant to go public about the illness she called the 'Big A', but eventually did so to publicise a fund for supporting Alzheimer's sufferers that she had jointly set up withAlzheimer's Australia .In 2004, Hazel Flynn and Hawke's daughter Susan Pieters-Hawke published a book, "Hazel's Journey: A personal experience of Alzheimer's" , describing the previous decade of Hawke's life and the onset of Alzheimer's. At the book launch on
November 1 ,2004 , Pieters-Hawke revealed that her mother had reached the mid-stages of the disease and was now suffering from quite severe short-term memory loss. Hawke's granddaughter Sophie Pieters-Hawke launched an education kit for schoolchildren about Alzheimers in 2007.References
* [http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/meetpm.asp?pmId=23&pageName=wife Australia's Prime Ministers - Meet a PM - Hawke - Hazel Hawke]
* [http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/fastfacts.asp?pmSelectName=23 Australia's Prime Ministers - Fast Facts - Hawke]
* Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2003). [http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2003/s982455.htm Australian Story - The Big 'A'] .
* Stephens, Tony (Nov. 2, 2004). [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/01/1099262791840.html When love shone through the fog] , "The Age".
* Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (25 November) Pages [http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/1998/week10/2927.htm 2927] and [http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/1998/week10/2928.htm 2928] (a public pro-choice letter from Hazel Hawke)
* [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=872932&search_type=advanced&showInd=true It's an Honour] Australian Government (RetrievedSeptember 23 ,2007 )
* [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21553543-662,00.html Hazel Hawke inspires mission]
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