Arthur Clarence "Clem" Hawke (5 March 1898 – 23 December 1989) was the General Secretary of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

1919–1920, and a Congregationalist minister. He was the father of

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

1983–1991; and brother of Bert Hawke, MHA for Burra Burra, South Australia 1924–1927 and

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

1953–1959.

History

Hawke was born in

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance to th ...

, a son of miner James Renfrey Hawke (25 September 186213 September 1930) and his wife Elizabeth Ann Hawke (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Pascoe; 31 December 186227 December 1946). Hawke left school at age 12 and worked at a number of jobs including blacksmithing while studying at the School of Mines in Kapunda. He trained for the ministry at

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

under Dr. William George Torr and served as Methodist home missionary at Forster in the South Australian

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

, Port Neill and Kalangadoo. In 1919 he became General Secretary of the

in South Australia. It was at Forster in 1919 that he met schoolteacher Edith Emily Lee. They married in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

the following year. He was ordained a Congregationalist minister and conducted services at the Halifax Street Congregational Mission. His first posting was to the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

town of Houghton, which he carried off successfully, and during that time their first son Neil was born. He was posted to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

from 1923 and spent several years there before returning to South Australia, when he served at Renmark, then Bordertown from 1928 to 1935, living in the

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

on Farquhar Street. He was well received by the local population, both as a keen

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and footballer and for his thoughtful well-prepared sermons. It was here that Bob was born and spent his early years. Their next move was to Maitland on

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula ...

. In November 1939, after elder son Neil died of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

, they moved to West Leederville, a suburb of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, while Bob attended

Perth Modern School Perth Modern School (colloquially known as Perth Mod) is a public co-educational academically selective high school, located in Subiaco, an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Perth Modern is Western Australia's only fully academica ...

and

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. Clem enlisted with the 2nd AIF as chaplain with the rank of captain. After the war he was appointed minister to the Subiaco Congregational Church, where he served until at least 1950. His wife died in 1979 after a long stroke-induced illness. It was on his 85th birthday on 5 March 1983 that his son was elected Prime Minister. Clem returned to Bordertown in 1987 to unveil a bust of his famous son. Two years later he died of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

at the Resthaven nursing home in the Adelaide suburb of Malvern, having suffered deteriorating health for several weeks. Bob Hawke, who was particularly close to his father, said on the Channel 9 program ''A Current Affair'', "He's passed on to me the fundamental beliefs I have, and that is: we are in this world not just to advance our own interests but we owe an obligation to our fellow human beings".

Family

Clem Hawke married Edith Emily "Ellie" Lee (1 October 1896 – September 1979) in June 1920. They had two sons: *John Neil Hawke (1 March 1921 – 27 February 1939) * Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawke, Clem Australian Congregationalist ministers Clergy from South Australia 1898 births 1989 deaths People from Kapunda Parents of prime ministers of Australia Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers 20th-century Congregationalist ministers Australian Army chaplains