Less than three years after entering Parliament, and a little over a month after becoming Opposition Leader, Bob Hawke became Prime Minister. However, Hawke had been in the public eye long before his rapid rise to parliamentary prominence. Pickering first began to draw him during the period of the Whitlam Government, when Hawke was the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and National President of the Labor Party. Already Hawke was being viewed as a contender for ALP leadership and possible future Prime Minister. Although Hawke and Whitlam tried to appear united, the rivalry between them was apparent to everyone, and became a constant theme for Larry Pickering.

The cartoons of both Pickering and Pryor cover the years of Hawke’s political ascendancy—yet it is primarily Pryor who captures the period of his Prime Ministership. Hawke’s struggles to appease the ALP Left whilst shifting ever more to the Right, and his willingness to assume the status of the ALP’s Messiah, are regular Pryor themes. Pryor also reminds us of Hawke’s obsessive love of sport and his uncanny ability to be present at major sporting events throughout the country. Hawke’s term as Prime Minister came to an end in 1991 after a leadership challenge by his former Treasurer, Paul Keating. Pryor’s cartoons also cover Hawke’s attempts to remain in the public eye after leaving Parliament.

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• Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library at the Hawke Centre, University of South Australia.

After Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975, Hawke was increasingly touted as being Gough’s successor.

Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam.