Bob Hawke was farewelled today in a State Memorial Service at the Sydney Opera House. The proceedings were televised nationally by major networks.
Bob, as is well known, was born in Bordertown in the Upper South East of South Australia. But he is also a descendant of one of the earliest families in the Blinman Township, in the heart of the Flinders Ranges. John Pascoe and his wife Ann (nee Delbridge) ran one of the original butchery businesses in the town. They were up there by 1862, within a year or so of the opening of the Blinman Copper Mine, and continued in Blinman until 1874.
In that twelve-year period they had five children born in Blinman. The eldest was named Elizabeth Ann Blinman Pascoe. The younger ones were James, Albert Russell (died as a young child), Eveline and Mary Jane.
In mid-1874 the Pascoes sold their butchery business to Thomas Young (formerly a member of South Australia’s first Parliament) and moved to Morgan on the River Murray. John died in 1898 while working on North-West Bend Station, and Ann died at Kapunda in 1896.
Elizabeth Ann Blinman Pascoe married James Renfrey Hawke at Morgan in 1885. They went on to have seven children, all born while they were living in Kapunda. Their fourth son, Albert George Redvers Hawke, later became Premier of Western Australia. Their third son, Arthur Clarence Hawke (known as Clement or Clem), born in 1898, married Edith Emily Lee at Thebarton in 1920.
Clem and Edith had two sons, John Neil (born at Torrensville in 1921) and the subject of today’s memorial service, Robert James Lee Hawke (born at Bordertown in 1929).
Bob will be remembered as a Prime Minister who captured the attention of all Australians. Today’s memorial service was a fitting tribute to a great-grandson of the town of Blinman.
An interesting article – thank you!