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The man in the mirror

Texture and nuance in the new biography of Bob Hawke
by
April 2022, no. 441

Bob Hawke: Demons and destiny by Troy Bramston

Viking, $49.99 hb, 704 pp

The man in the mirror

Texture and nuance in the new biography of Bob Hawke
by
April 2022, no. 441
Bob Hawke on his campaign plane, 1983 (Ray Strange/News Corp Australia, from the book under review)

Curators at old Parliament House – now known as the Museum for Australian Democracy – have for many years maintained the prime minister’s suite much as it was when Bob Hawke vacated it in 1988. Visitors can gaze at a reproduction of the Arthur Boyd painting that hung opposite Hawke’s desk, gawk at the enormous, faux-timber panelled telephone Hawke used, and cast a wry eye over the prime ministerial bathroom, where curators have laid on the vanity toiletries and accoutrements belonging to the office’s last occupant: a box of contact lenses, a pair of black shoelaces, and a tube of hair dye.

Patrick Mullins reviews 'Bob Hawke: Demons and destiny' by Troy Bramston

Bob Hawke: Demons and destiny

by Troy Bramston

Viking, $49.99 hb, 704 pp

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Comment (1)

  • At least Bob Hawke did not wear his school uniform in the holidays, like that political pygmy, John Howard.
    Posted by Robert Campbell
    01 April 2022

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