Hawthorn Historical Society

26/02/2026

The Hawthorn Historical Society is undertaking a major project to update our catalogue so that it can be viewed on-line through Victorian Collections. As part of this process we need to be accurate. This photograph probably taken around 1980-1990 by Gwen McWilliam or her family, is undocumented. The house number is 46 but the street address is an unknown street in Hawthorn. Help please!!

26/02/2026

25/02/2026

Balancing the books is the first talk of our very special three part speakers’ Festival, Women who Inspire. It’s being held during Women’s History Month. We look forward to welcoming you.

Anna Welch is Principal Collection Curator, History of the Book at State Library Victoria. She works on the Rare Books Collection at State Library...

23/02/2026

Sorry if you missed it.
Great Thursday night at The Kilburn - more than 50 people joining us - having a drink, a chat and the opportunity to learn a little of the history of this area from historian Liz Yewers. It was terrific to meet many new faces to the Society and we appreciated the attendance and support of Boroondara Mayor Wes Gault, Councillor Mal Osborne - Smith, and John Pesutto, MLA for Hawthorn. Hope to see you all next time . All images Hawthorn Historical Society.
President Penny Underwood with Mayor Wes Gault and councillor Mal Osborne- Smith.
Speaker - historian Liz Yewers
President Penny Underwood with John Pesutto.
Attendees.

20/02/2026

Streetscapes change. Once it was there and now its gone and you have trouble remembering what was there before. Not so with Wridgways on the corner of Camberwell and Burwood Roads Hawthorn. But it seems tat back in the 1930s they wee at No. 17 Prospect hill Road and No. 5 Railway Parade. Did Wridgways ever help you move?
Ghost sign photograph - Rob Gray

17/02/2026

John and Ellen Quick had 4 young children when Ellen died from tuberculosis in 1859 aged 36 years. Hers was the first burial at the Boroondara Cemetery, on the evening of 12 March 1859.
Ellen Derrick was born in Gloucestershire 1823, the daughter of Thomas and Patience Derrick. She married John Quick, a stonemason from Devon, in October 1848, and eight days later the couple sailed for Port Phillip on the ‘Duke of Northumberland’.

In August 1851, John Quick with Ellen’s brothers Samuel and William Derrick and James Venn Morgan tried their luck on the Chewton goldfields and after just two weeks of digging, they returned to Melbourne with 35 pounds weight of gold, worth maybe $3million in today's market.

They purchased 32 acres of land at Kew which they named Cotham after an area of Bristol: a triangular section stretching from near the present site of the Kew Post Office along High Street and Cotham Roads to a boundary between Mary Street and Ridgeway Avenue.

14/02/2026

We are getting excited.

Soon we will be celebrating Women's History Month with a special exhibition titled Women of Influence, and a three part speaker series looking at how women have, and are shaping history. All of the nine Hawthorn women, who will feature in our exhibition, from March 16th to April 24 , are women who have transformed our lives over the decades through their work in fields such as medicine, education, literature, art, and music. WHO COULD THEY BE?

Women Who Inspire, a speaker series in late March will coincide with our exhibition.

Please visit our website to learn more about the events and our extraordinary speakers
- Anna Welch, Principal Collection Curator, History of the Book at State Library of Victoria;
- Sita Sargeant, of She Shapes History, the 2026 (ACT) Australian of the Year; and
- artist Dans Bain, founder of the Lost Petition, an ongoing textile artwork that lists women and children who have lost their lives to gendered violence.

https://www.hawthornhistoricalsociety.com.au/events

11/02/2026

MILKO'S WARS
You might remember the home delivery of milk by horse and cart in the early hours of the morning, and the good-old-days when you could pay the milko with money placed in the milk bottles that you left at the gate. To read about the MILKO' WARS ...

https://www.hawthornhistoricalsociety.com.au/milkos-wars/

06/02/2026

In the Chinese Zodiac it is nearly time to usher in Year of the Horse. If you were born in the Year of the Horse, being energetic, independent, cheerful, responsible and adventurous are said to be positive aspects of your personality. Horses have served the Hawthorn community from its very beginnings. Of course originally they were essential as the main form of transport, but were also important for farmers, and all traders to delivery their produce, to cart the coal, the ice, and even to pull the early trams.
Early 1900s - Train to hawthorn and then home by handsome cab. (HHS Collection)

06/02/2026

Thank you Rob Baillieu. Great for our President Penny Underwood to be able to talk to the traders about our work and the proud history of West Hawthorn Village.

A couple months ago I doorknocked the Hawthorn West Shops and put out a flyer inviting traders and residents to come together and discuss opportunities to improve the strip and support the local businesses.

On Wednesday I met with ~12 traders brought together by the Hawthorn Historic Society who share the same vision!

Following our discussions I’m hopeful that we may just re-establish a Hawthorn West Traders network and invest in revitalising the shopping strip! The new council has more than doubled the staffing for our Economic Development team, established a new vibrant shopping precincts committee, and is working on a program of grants and upgrades to support strip revitalisation. This will be supported by more than $40m in funding across the next 4 years.

There are 54 shopping strips in Boroondara so it may take a bit of time to get to them all! But from little things big things grow.

A big thanks also to the many businesses that put up rainbow stickers in their shop windows! I’ve had quite a few messages from people commenting positively on them