Nelson Mandela has been remembered by former prime minister Bob Hawke, who played a vital role in the freedom fighter's release from a South African jail.
"He devoted himself to healing a nation that had suffered from centuries of racial discrimination and oppression," Mr Hawke said in a statement on Friday.
"His courage and character has been an inspiration to many, both within and beyond South Africa.
"His long campaign and self-sacrifice for political freedom for his people in South Africa was unparalleled in the 20th century."
In 1990, Mr Mandela came to Australia to visit parliament and told Hawke "I want you to know, Bob, that I am here today, at this time, because of you".
"He had travelled to Australia to thank our nation for the part we played in bringing about his release and the enormous reform in South Africa which ultimately resulted in President de Klerk dismantling apartheid," said Mr Hawke, who was present when Mr Mandela was inaugurated as South African president in 1994.
Mr Hawke devised a plan to directly attack the apartheid regime through global banks funding it.
The resulting fall in investment was "the dagger that finally immobilised apartheid", former south African Finance minister Barend du Plessis was quoted as saying in the 2010 book Hawke, by Mr Hawke's wife Blanche d'Alpuget.
As the face and symbol of the oppression of black South Africans, Mr Mandela never lost sight of his ambition for his country during his 27 years of incarceration.
"For this, he will forever more be known as the Father of Democracy in South Africa," Mr Hawke said.
