Robert Hawke

1929-

Australian Politician

Robert Hawke was born in Bordertown Australia on December 9, 1929. He received a bachelor's degree in law and economics from the University of Western Australia and a bachelor of letters degree from Oxford in 1955 as a Rhodes scholar.

Hawke became active in the Australian Council of Trade Unions, becoming its president in 1970. Ten years later, he became a member of Parliament, and in 1983 was elected the leader of the Labor Party.

That same year the Labor Party won the national elections and Hawke became Prime Minister.