Bill Hayden  William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is a former Australian politician who served as the 21st Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1989 to 1996. He had earlier been leader of the Labor Party from 1977 to 1983, as well as serving as a cabinet minister in the Whitlam and Hawke Governments. Hayden was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Brisbane State High School and then joined the Queensland Police, working as a police officer for eight years while studying economics part-time at the University of Queensland. Hayden was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1961 federal election, aged 28 - along with Manfred Cross and Doug McClelland, Hayden is the earliest elected Labor MP still alive. When Gough Whitlam led the Labor Party to victory in 1972, he was made Minister for Social Security. He replaced Jim Cairns as Treasurer in 1975, but served for only five months before the government was dismissed. In early 1977, Hayden challenged Whitlam for the party leadership and was defeated by just two votes. He defeated Lionel Bowen to succeed Whitlam as Leader of the Opposition at the end of the year, following Labor's defeat at the 1977 election. Hayden led the party to the 1980 election, recording a substantial swing but falling well short of victory. He was replaced by Bob Hawke just a few weeks before the 1983 election, after months of speculation. Hayden served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1983 to 1988, then left parliament to assume the governor-generalship. He held that position for seven years, with only Lord Gowrie having served for longer. Born in Brisbane, Bill Hayden was the son of George Hayden, an Irish-American sailor originally from Oakland, California, and already 52 years old at the time of Bill's birth. His paternal grandparents were from County Cork, Ireland and significant parts of his approach to social issues and politics throughout his public life reflected this background and non-denominational education at Brisbane State High School. A keen sportsman, he played rugby and rowed, and served in the Australian Military Force, and Navy as well as the Queensland Public Service and Police Force (the latter, from 1953–61). He continued his education privately, completing an economics degree (on a part-time basis) at the University of Queensland. Prior to the 1970s, he was a self-described democratic socialist. During the late 1950s he became active in the Labor Party. In the 1961 federal election he surprised almost everyone, including himself, by winning the House of Representatives seat of Oxley, located in southwest Brisbane.