A Life Triumphantly Well Written: Producing the Hawke Legacy, 1979–2019

In recent decades, there has been an increase in scholarly attention to biographical political writing in Australian national culture. In particular, there have been several biographies and televisual ‘biopics’ about Australia’s 23rd prime minister, Robert James Lee Hawke. In this article, I argue that Hawke demonstrated a proclivity for managing or contributing to historiographical projects that were intended to build or buttress his personal and political legacy. That legacy has been one in which Hawke is considered ‘legendary’, and his government potentially the best that Australia has had. In addition to archival and oral research, I conduct a close reading of several major biographical and autobiographical texts concerning Hawke. I conclude that Hawke’s legacy-building initiatives occurred in three distinct phases: a foundational myth-making phase, a post–prime ministerial reactionary phase and a twenty-first-century ascendant phase. Throughout each, Hawke was supported by meaningful and collaborative partnerships with biographer and partner Blanche d’Alpuget, private secretary Jill Saunders, loyal former colleagues, close friends and project-specific co-creators. This research acts as a reminder that politicians have historically had a vested interest in legacy building, and that audiences must be encouraged to critique rather than accept by default the laudatory narratives that politicians generate about themselves.