Blanche d’Alpuget dies aged 82

Australian writer Blanche d’Alpuget, the widow of former prime minister Bob Hawke, has died aged 82.

D’Alpuget died on Tuesday following complications from influenza. Her family confirmed her death in a statement on Wednesday.

D’Alpuget was an author of novels, biographies and essays. Her political biography of Hawke won the NSW Premier’s Award.

Her family shared a final statement from the writer:

“Our highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another.”

“He has no fear of death and we’ve talked about it quite a lot.” An emotional Blanche d'Alpuget tells (an emotional) @leighsales how she'll cope with life after Bob Hawke. More tonight #abc730 pic.twitter.com/W8ktcaJ8Zp

— abc730 (@abc730) February 27, 2018

Family pays tribute

In a statement, d’Alpuget’s family said they “will miss her force, her humour, her curiosity and her love beyond measure.

“Blanche wrote and lived entirely on her own terms.

“She was full of vitality, generosity and curiosity, with an extraordinary appetite for beauty, ideas, history, new places and spirited conversation.

“She refused to be confined by convention or by other people’s expectations of who she should be.”

D’Alpuget married Hawke in 1995. The couple remained together until Hawke’s death in 2019. Her family said they shared a “great love” and “almost 24 years of life, travel and companionship”.

Born in Sydney, d’Alpuget also lived in England, France, Indonesia and Malaysia.

She is survived by her son from her first marriage, artist and sculptor Louis Pratt; his wife, Brianna; and granddaughter Sienna.

“She was also very fond of Bob’s children, her stepchildren Sue Pieters-Hawke, Rosslyn Dillon and Stephen Hawke, and their children and grandchildren,” the family said.

Final interview

In her final interview, d’Alpuget told The Daily Telegraph she had been “preparing for death” and believed in an afterlife.

“I think we should prepare ourselves for death. But I do believe in the afterlife. Our soul lives on,” she said.

Asked how she wanted to be remembered, d’Alpuget said: “Not as Bob Hawke’s wife – he was quite famous in his day. Not as a mistress.”

Instead, she wanted to be remembered as a writer “and somebody who loved a lot”.

“That’s the first, the really important thing for me. Love.”