Womensport and Recreation NSW was delighted that Mrs. Hazel Hawke AO accepted the position of inaugural Patron of the association in 1999. Hazel is well known across Australia as a strong and active leader in issues relating to the community, family, the environment and the arts.

She has followed the developments in women's sport and believes there is ground to be made up, to redress the past, so that women have the same resources that go into male sport. It is also important for women to have an input in decision making and leadership in sport and recreation and that they receive the same levels of recognition.

While perhaps achieving greatest prominence during the period of her ex husband's Prime Ministership, Mrs Hawke has always worked independently and become involved in important social issues. She is currently working with Alzheimer's Australia to raise much needed funds for services, support and research programs into Alzheimer's disease and other causes of dementia. For more go to: www.alzheimers.org.au

Mrs Hawke was born in Perth in 1929 and educated at Mt Hawthorn State School and the Perth Central Girls' School. She attained an Associate Diploma of Pianoforte in 1945. Music means a lot to her and one of her leisure activities is piano lessons "for pleasure and interest".

From 1944 to 1955 she worked as a secretary/bookkeeper for an electrical engineering firm and at the Institute of statistics in Oxford, UK. In 1956 she married Bob Hawke, working at the Indian High Commission during this year.

The Hawkes lived in Melbourne from 1958-1983 where Mrs Hawke was a full time homemaker, then worked at the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, was a volunteer in the Action Resource Centre for Low Income People and was employed in the Social Issues and Research Department from 1975-1979. From 1980-81 she pursued a Diploma of Welfare Studies.

Mrs. Hawke lived in the Prime Minister's Lodge 1983-1991, actively pursuing her interest in community work, women and children's issues, music and the arts. It was during these years that the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Commission were established and the Federal Government funding of sport doubled. Mrs. Hawke supported her sports loving husband and took a strong interest in women's sport and junior sport.

In 1992 the Hawkes moved to Sydney and later that year her autobiography, My Own Life, was published. She was divorced in 1995.

Among her numerous positions across a broad range of organisations she chaired the NSW Heritage Council, a Board member of the Australian Children's Television Foundation and Patron of the World Wide Fund for Nature. She currently works with the Hazel Hawke Alzheimer's Research & Care Fund.

Her interest in the environment was applied through gardening, which she enjoyed doing herself, as well as mowing the lawn. She enjoyed growing native plants and attracting birds into her garden as well as the bushwalks around the harbour foreshore.

Hazel Hawke's daughter, Sue Pieters-Hawke, has written a book on her mother's battle with Alzheimers: Hazel's Journey - A Personal Experience of Alzheimer's, which tells the full story of her mother's life in the past ten years. The book breaks a taboo, to increase awareness of Alzheimer's and to help raise much-needed funds for research. It's written by Sue Pieters-Hawke and Hazel Flynn and is published by Pan MacMillan.

More information is available on www.alzheimers.org.au or call dementia helpline on 1800 639 331. Hazel Hawke Alzheimer's Research and Care Fund website is at www.hazelhawke.net.au or call 1300 306 293.