Tag: bob hawke

Simpler Times

Published on by James O'Brien2 Comments

“I don’t remember us wearing our pants THAT high in the 80s”, I said to my friends as the “glass boy” walked past us at the Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre (aka the Bob Hawke Brewery at Marrickville). 

The bar is themed around the former Prime Minister, with lots of memorabilia, including signed photographs, the pair of broken glasses he was wearing when a cricket ball famously hit him, the Australia-themed jacket he wore for the 1983 America’s Cup victory, and even the Bob Hawke wine cask holder.… Read the rest “Simpler Times”

He was not “Saint Bob”

Published on by James O'Brien2 Comments

The first funeral for a former Prime Minister I remember, was the funeral of Sir Robert Menzies. It was many years since he had been the Prime Minister, and I was only a young child. Since then, in adulthood, I’ve remembered the deaths of Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam. I’m sure there have been others along the way, but Hawke was a “giant” in that he was the longest serving Labor PM, and, in the words of the current Prime Minister, he was a “father of modern Australia”.… Read the rest “He was not “Saint Bob””