Bill Hayden
Former Governor-General of Australia (1989-1996), the Honorable Dr Bill Hayden, AC, KSJ, received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from UQ in 1990 for his distinguished contributions to Australian life as a Member of Parliament, a Minister of the Crown and Governor-General.
Dr Hayden, who holds a Bachelor of Economics from UQ, was educated at Brisbane State High School and served as a Queensland police officer from 1953 until 1961.
In 1961, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the Federal Division of Oxley, Queensland, holding the seat until his retirement from Parliament in 1988.
He was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1976 until 1983 and, during the Whitlam Government, was Minister for Social Security (1972-1975) and Treasurer in 1975. From December 1977 until February 1983, Dr Hayden was the Leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
During the Hawke Government, Dr Hayden was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1983 and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1987, remaining in this position until his retirement from Parliament.
Mr Hayden has been a cattle farmer in the Brisbane Valley since 1996 and was voted Australian Humanist of the Year the same year.
He has received many awards and honours, including Chancellor of the Order of Australia (1989), the Prior Order St John Australia and the Gwanghwa Medal of the Korean Order of Diplomatic Merit.
Articles by Bill Hayden
We’ve come so far on gay rights but it’s not enough
Fifty-eight years ago, as a conscript in the Australian Navy, I was on parade with ship’s company on the wharf…... Read more
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
RT @RajWakeling: we crucify Lana Del Rey for manufacturing her identity and using autotune, and we worship lady gaga for the same? get some perspective
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou
In I Spit On Your Grave, a young woman is gang raped in a remote woodland. She is beaten and tortured…
Cash mobs aren’t so flash
For a moment in the mid-naughties, they were the coolest of all cool social media-fuelled meme-thingos.…
If we wanted reality, we’d turn off the television
“Some day, far into the future, this here machine will become a powerful medium with the potential…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
