It wasn't all solidarity, however, as those gathered for the conference at Sydney's Exhibition Centre speculated whether Mr Hawke's 20-year feud with former Prime Minister Paul Keating would erupt when the pair crossed paths, seconds after Mr Keating ticked off a group of photographers.
"You've got your pictures now buzz off," Mr Keating snapped, spelling out "orf" and jabbing his finger at the photographers who were hoping to capture the moment he and his adversary met.
The rift between Mr Keating and Mr Hawke dates back to 1991 when Mr Keating won a Labor caucus vote to become prime minister.
Mr Keating and Mr Hawke were later seated in the dining room with their backs to each other, listening to keynote speakers including former trade unionist Bill Kelty, who urged the Labor Government to regroup and take responsibility for its political woes.
Mr Kelty said Australia was going through a period of great transition, with difficult reforms, including the carbon and mining taxes, providing a rough road for the Government.
But he said Labor must take criticism on the chin and see the job through.
"I've got to be frank - it's too easy to blame the media, too easy to blame the faceless politicians, and there's no purpose blaming the opposition for doing what, after all, you'd expected them to do," he told a gala dinner at the ACTU triennial conference in Sydney.
Mr Kelty, secretary of the ACTU between 1983 and 2000, issued a plea for unity, saying Labor and the unions were best-placed to manage the great transition the Australian economy faces.
"It is an important time for us - to regroup, to take collective responsibility. It's too easy to blame the leaders," he added.
Current and former Labor prime ministers all paid tribute to Mr Kelty, who was handed an award for his 17 years as secretary of the ACTU.
Mr Kelty, 54, played a key role in reforms during the Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard governments.
"He devoted his whole active working life to working people," Mr Keating told diners.
"He was simply for the public good."
Mr Keating admitted the pair sometimes argued.
"We had our disagreements and sometimes bad ones and he'd get grumpy for a week or two.
"I'd get the odd tentative call to see if there was a thawing in the offing.
"But we always kept our eye on the main chance - national advancement and the realisation of the industrial agenda for Labor."
ACTU president Ged Kearney called Mr Kelty the father of the modern union movement.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard was attending a community cabinet meeting in Melbourne but sent a message of congratulations, read out by another former ACTU secretary, Jeff Lawrence.
"It is a mark of Bill's modesty that he's avoided events like this for 12 years but it's fitting that we have finally made this tribute," Ms Gillard wrote.
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