Function and purpose

This series consists of miscellaneous papers and records collected on subjects of interest to the Hon Robert “Bob” James Lee Hawke and the Hawke Labor Government. Bob Hawke became Australia’s 23rd Prime Minister in 1983, holding the role for four terms until losing the party leadership to Paul Keating in 1991. The documents in M3855 cover a wide variety of subjects and are presumed to have been kept for reference purposes. The records include papers on: overseas contacts; electoral reform; the America's Cup yacht race; the 1986 visit by Pope John Paul II to Australia (made during the International Year of Peace); the status of women; trade unions, etc. The series also contains papers regarding Hawke’s interest in creating a bill of rights for Australia. After two unsuccessful attempts to enable a bill of rights, the Hawke government called for a referendum proposing changes to the constitution. This referendum, held in 1988, was also defeated.

System of arrangement and control

A single number system was imposed by the Archives to improve the control of the records.

Sources

NAA: CP 390; Hon Robert James Lee HAWKE AC

National Archives of Australia, ‘Bob Hawke - In office’; National Archives of Australia, http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/hawke/in-office.aspx, accessed 14 November 2016

Wikipedia, ‘Bob Hawke’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hawke, accessed 14 November 2016

Wikipedia, ‘List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II outside Italy’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pastoral_visits_of_Pope_John_Paul_II_outside_Italy#1980s, accessed 16 November 2016

Hawke, Robert, ‘Message to his Holiness, Pope John Paul II’, PM Transcripts, transcript ID 7025, media release date 26 October 1986, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, http://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7025, accessed 16 November 2016

Museum of Australian Democracy, ‘Bob Hawke, Referendum on rights’, http://explore.moadoph.gov.au/people/bob-hawke, accessed 16 November 2016