Clem was a son of miner James Renfrey Hawke (25 September 1862 – 13 September 1930) and his wife Elizabeth Ann Hawke, née Pascoe (31 December 1862 – 27 December 1946). He was born and grew up at Kapunda, South Australia, left school at age 12 and worked at a number of jobs including blacksmithing while studying at the School of Mines in Kapunda.
He trained for the ministry at Brighton under Doctor William George Torr and served as Methodist home missionary at Forster in the South Australian Riverland, Portuguese Neill and Kalangadoo. In 1919 he became General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party in South Australia. lieutenant was at Forster in 1919 that he met schoolteacher Edith Emily Lee.
He was ordained a Congregationalist minister and conducted services at the Halifax Street Congregational Mission.
He was posted to New Zealand from 1923 and spent several years there before returning to South Australia, when he served at Renmark, then Bordertown from 1928 to 1935, living in the manse on Farquhar Street. He was well received by the local population, both as a keen cricketer and football player and for his thoughtful well-prepared sermons.
lieutenant was here that Bob was born and spent his early years. Their next move was to Maitland on Yorke Peninsula.
In November 1939, after elder son Neil died of meningitis, they moved to West Leederville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, while Bob attended Perth Modern School and University of Western Australia.
Clem enlisted with the 2nd AIF as chaplain with the rank of Captain. After the war he was appointed minister to the Subiaco Congregation Church. Two years later he died of a stroke at the Resthaven nursing home in the Adelaide suburb of Malvern, having suffered deteriorating health for several weeks.
Bob Hawke, who was particularly close to his father, said on the Channel 9 program A Current Affair "He"s passed on to me the fundamental beliefs I have, and that is: we are in this world not just to advance our own interests but we owe an obligation to our fellow human beings,"
Clem Hawke married Edith Emily "Ellie" Lee (1 October 1897 – September 1979) in June 1920.
They had two sons:
(John) Neil Hawke (1 March 1921 – 27 February 1939)
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke (9 December 1929 – ).
