Over the next 86 years, he made a significant mark on the growing city and its people, most notably in rugby union. As well as being an outstanding representative player, coach and administrator, he gave thousands of young boys and men the direction and means to express themselves through sport, from participation to elite representation.

Hawke was the first son of Ainslie residents Eddie and Ivy Hawke, originally of Araluen, and brother to Allan and Gloria. He attended St Mary's Primary School at Braddon before moving to the old Canberra High School at Acton. At 14, he became the youngest member of the school's first XV rugby team, in which he played for four consecutive years. In his final year, he was school vice-captain and, along with recognition for his rugby abilities, received sporting blues for cricket and athletics.

Hawke's contribution to rugby and the community began in earnest in 1951. Aged 19, he asked a young Neville Girvan if he would invite some boys to join a rugby team in the working-class Ainslie area. One of the boys was John McKeough, who recalls the "club" had its first training run under Hawke with five boys at Ainslie oval, possibly in April 1951.

"Many of the boys were related and some were a bit wild," McKeough says. "Keith was like a Pied Piper to the groups of brothers and cousins and schoolmates who made up the Ainslie Wallabies, the six-stone seven-pound (41-kilogram) team whose main aim in life was to beat Royals, the club for which Keith was playing senior rugby.

"Keith was very determined, very capable and very confident. After that first season was under way, more players joined and there were enough for two teams. Keith persuaded the rugby authorities to allow the second team, the Ainslie Kangaroos, to enter the competition mid-season."

McKeough says early Canberra rugby was synonymous with chook raffles but, in Ainslie, they were preceded by beer raffles, one shilling (10 cents) a ticket for a dozen bottles and, later, loads of wood. "Keith had 30 to 40 boys aged from 10 to 13 selling the tickets door-to-door," he says.

"Not content to give his boys an outlet through rugby only, Keith held them together through summer by forming the Ainslie Junior Rugby Union Cricket Club and entering it into the local junior cricket competition. Of course, Keith was coach."

McKeough says Hawke was the leading influence in the clubs. "He held the respect of possibly hundreds of Ainslie boys and their parents, and created a group of close friends that now consists of men in their late 70s and early 80s who still hold an annual reunion."

In the meantime, Hawke's own rugby career was blossoming. Having been a foundation member of the Royals Rugby Union Football Club since 1949, he played in the club's first John I. Dent Cup premiership in 1954 and further premierships in 1957 and 1958.

Hawke was an outstanding representative, playing 52 games in 10 seasons for the ACT. He represented NSW Country (when ACT was part of NSW Country) and an Australian XV against Fiji in Fiji in 1953. He was one of the best five-eighths of his era and captained ACT against the Springboks, All Blacks and New Zealand Maori.

It was on a NSW Country tour of New Zealand in 1954 that he met his future wife, Valerie McKenzie, second daughter of New Zealand All Blacks selector Norman. They married at St Patrick's, Braddon, in 1956, with rugby firmly entrenched in the family.

After playing 156 first-grade games for Royals, Hawke started coaching and took the club to three successive premierships in 1964, 1965 and 1966. He was club patron from 1994 until his death.

Having moved to the frontier suburb of Yarralumla with his wife, Hawke continued his template for engaging young boys in positive life experiences with Royals juniors (Red, White and Blue) in Yarralumla, Deakin and Red Hill in the early 1960s. This continued into the early 1970s in Yarralumla, Hughes and Curtin with Gulls, Magpies and Hawks teams. The fundraising also continued, although without beer as the lure. There were, however, illegal gambling nights held in the backyard of Hawke's Novar Street home.

His involvement in and commitment to rugby union was total. He was a player, coach, selector, manager and administrator at junior and senior level for the ACT, NSW Country, NSW and Australia. Hawke was not only a life member of Royals but also of the ACT Rugby Union, ACT Junior Rugby Union and the Ainslie Rugby Football Club. He was an avid supporter of women's rugby, well before its recent growth.

He had been the ACT Junior Rugby Union's patron since 1992. His service to ACT rugby in various roles continued unbroken from the age of 19 to his death. He received a medal of the Order of Australia for services to rugby union in 1998.

Amid all this, Hawke was a tower of strength within the Catholic parish of St Peter Chanel's and spent 38 years as a public servant, mostly in the former Department of Customs and Excise. He was a passionate gardener, growing fruit and vegetables that he stewed, bottled, pickled and sauced, and which he happily shared with family and neighbours.

If there was something he was more passionate about than rugby or gardening, it was family, especially his nine grandchildren. He was constantly juggling attendances at their various sporting, social and academic events. Despite the deaths of wife Valerie and then his eldest daughter Genevieve in 2011, Hawke still found joy and meaning serving the many communities in which he was involved.

With the advent of the Brumbies and professional rugby in 1996, he volunteered on match day helping to manage ground activities. In his later years, when the cold of winter bit too hard, he moved to an indoor role, welcoming guests to the director's dinner until his last match against the Crusaders on April 27. By the time of the next home fixture, against the Melbourne Rebels, Hawke had succumbed to pneumonia, dying on May 12, 2018 at Calvary John James Hospital.

Hawke was thrilled to be a part of Royals' premiership win last season – it was his 65th ACT rugby union grand final attendance. There would hardly be a player, official or supporter of rugby who did not have some positive contact with him. For many, that contact was profound, including players who went on to become Australian Wallabies. One of those was Brad Girvan, the son of one of Hawke's original Ainslie Wallabies.

He will be remembered with gratitude. He was a role model of selfless service who left an enormous impression upon Canberra. He is survived by his son Geoff, daughters Shé and Liz, and nine grandchildren.