1979-1989 Others Who Mattered
Golfer: Greg Norman
The "Great White Shark" spent 331 weeks as the world's No. 1 golfer during the 1980s and '90s, won two majors and was the first player to break $10 million in earnings. Still, seven second-place finishes suggest a talent never fully realized.
Judge: Pat O'Shane
Growing up in a tent with a dirt floor and no water, as O'Shane did, was not unusual for an Aboriginal kid in the 1940s. (It's still not.) O'Shane — her father was of Irish descent — studied law and became one of the first Aboriginal barristers. In 1986 she was appointed a state magistrate — the first Aboriginal to hold such a position. Known for her liberal and often controversial decisions, O'Shane remains a powerful role model today.
Businessman: Alan Bond
After a short career as a Perth signwriter, British-born Bond moved into property development and, later, brewing and television. The country cheered when Bond's love of yachting and his deep pockets captured the America's Cup in 1983, and jeered when he headed to prison for fraud after a very public bankruptcy.
Prime Minister, Treasurer: Bob Hawke and Paul Keating
It's easy to forget how much Australia changed and grew in confidence under Hawke and Keating. Hawke, a trade unionist and Rhodes scholar famed for his beer-drinking exploits, had a common touch that helped Labor win four elections in a row. Keating, who left school at 14 and was known for his love of Mahler and antique French clocks, opened up the economy and modernized its institutions before becoming PM himself.
Writer: Thomas Keneally
A would-be priest who left his training after a crisis of faith, Keneally penned such classics as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Booker-winning Schindler's Ark, which Steven Spielberg turned into his masterwork. "Paradox is beloved of novelists," the passionate republican and prolific author
once said.
Strongman: Sitiveni Rabuka
The Pacific hadn't seen anything like it. In tropical Fiji, divided between ethnic Fijians and the descendants of colonial-era laborers from India, Rabuka reclaimed the leadership for his kin in a May 1987 coup. When that didn't work, he staged another one. Fiji has struggled with political unrest ever since.
Musicians: Michael Hutchence and Kylie Minogue
He was the swaggering lead singer of globe-conquering rock band INXS. She was a squeaky-clean soap-opera princess turned pop idol. In late 1980s Australia it was hard to pick who was the bigger star, radically different though their audiences were. When Michael and Kylie got together romantically, it was a gossip-magazine dream come true. Minogue says Hutchence helped her grow up. "It was like someone taking my blinkers off and making me aware of the size of the world," she said later. Hutchence, who killed himself in a Sydney hotel room in 1997 put it more bluntly. His favorite pastime, he said, was "corrupting Kylie."