Australia’s ‘Larrikin’ Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke Dies at 89

Australia's former prime minister Bob Hawke gives a speech at the Labor Party's federal election campaign launch event in Brisbane August 16, 2010. Daniel Munoz/Reuters

SYDNEY—Bob Hawke, a transformative and charismatic left-wing lawmaker with a “larrikin” streak who served as Australian prime minister from 1983 to 1991, died on May 16 aged 89, his family said.

“Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian—many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war era,” his wife and former biographer Blanche d’Alpuget said in a statement.