Visitors are the lifeblood of the Hawks Museum. This year we have welcomed visitors from far and wide. We have seen those with deep connections to the Hawthorn Football Club and those new to the sport of Australian Rules football. We have even received Friends of the Museum from the other side of the world.
Lewis Sutherland came all the way from Aberdeen, Scotland. In the 1970s, his father suggested he watch the Australian Rules games that were broadcast weekly in the UK. The games were shown in black & white. He was attracted to the team with the vertical stripes that kept winning. That team was Hawthorn. He has been a loyal Hawk ever since.
On a recent trip to Australia, Lewis was determined to visit Waverley. He spent quite a long time talking to the Museum staff, viewing the Club’s treasures, climbing the stairs to view honour boards and artefacts from Glenferrie Oval and remembering the players from those weekly TV broadcasts.
During March, the extended family of 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, former Head Trainer, Ken Goddard visited the Museum while in Melbourne to celebrate Ken’s 89th birthday. Granddaughter, Melian Goddard-Smith wanted to learn more about her grandad’s time with the Mighty Hawks.
Lewis Sutherland from Aberdeen, Scotland with the Significant Guernsey Collection.
She was to learn that Ken started with the training staff in 1962 and served until 2007. He was Head Trainer from 1970 to 1998, a golden era for the Club. Ken was a much-loved personality and had the enviable record of overseeing eight Premierships - 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991.
Melian, Mia, Aiden and Michael Goddard-Smith in front of the Hall of Fame inductees which includes their grandfather, Ken Goddard.
Melian’s children, Ken’s great-grandchildren, Aiden and Mia were delighted to hold and then try on one of Ken’s tracksuit tops on permanent display in the Trainers’ exhibit within the Museum. They then enjoyed a private viewing of the stairways that hold memorabilia and memories of Ken’s days at Glenferrie.
Greg Blake is the donor of the Record Seller’s coat, the popular display at the Museum’s front door. He recently visited the Museum with his wife, Tania and detailed his six years as a Record seller at VFL Park, starting with the opening game in 1970. Greg explained that the sellers had a hierarchy of gates at the ground. The newer boys were given the slower – more boring – gates. A carpenter by trade, Greg moved to Tasmania in 1977. He became a distributor for the Football Record for the NTFL.
The Blakes enjoyed the Premiership montages from 1961 through to 2014 on level 2, followed by an inspection of the second stairway where the scoreboard from the railway wing fence at Glenferrie depicts the final score of the last game played at our spiritual home.
