The second wife of Bob Hawke and celebrated biographer Blanche d'Alpuget has died aged 82 following complications from influenza.
D'Alpuget's family confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that she died on Tuesday, saying she wrote and lived entirely on her own terms.
"We will miss her force, her humour, her curiosity and her love beyond measure," the family said.
The family also shared a final statement from the celebrated writer and giant of Australian public life for decades.
“Our highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another," she said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia had lost "a true one-off".
"As a writer, she was at home in fiction as she was in non-fiction, working in each realm with a keen eye for every telling detail that opened up the humanity of her subject to her readers," he said in a statement.
"Blanche’s novels were compelling works of verve and originality, and her biographies comprehensive and definitive – most famously those she wrote of Bob Hawke, who became her great love and ultimately her husband.
"It is so fitting that Blanche’s final message to us all is this: 'Our highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another'.
"Our hearts right now with her family and all who loved her. "
D'Alpuget is survived by her son, artist and sculptor Louis Pratt; her daughter-in-law, Brianna; and her granddaughter, Sienna.
Earlier in her life, d'Alpuget lived and travelled in Indonesia, Malaysia and Europe with her first husband, diplomat Tony Pratt, with whom she had her son, Louis.
D'Alpuget married Bob Hawke in 1995, sharing almost 24 years with him until his death in 2019.
