The Hawks Museum recently received three tabletop cabinets from Essendon Football Club that has more than doubled the display available to tell the Hawthorn Story within the Club Chronology exhibit.

The new cabinets were unveiled as part of the school holidays FabFriday school holidays open training session combined with the HawksNest sales.  

Over 500 fans visited the museum, the highest number in any one day since the Hawks Museum opened with the majority viewing the Club collection for the first time.

The Club Chronology tells the story of the origins of football in the Hawthorn district, the formation of the present day Hawthorn Football Club in 1902 playing in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association, graduating to the VFA in 1914 followed by Hawthorn’s entry into the VFL in 1925 through to the Club’s 11th Premiership in 2008 and record Club Membership 2013.

Some of the items to be seen in the new cabinets with many items on display

  • Hawthorn’s earliest Club trophy from 1903
  • The Collection’s oldest football, the ball from 1922 when Hawthorn registered the then record score in the VFA/VFL 30.31.211
  • Jack Barker’s trophy when he was named best on ground the day the Red Brick Stand (Tuck Stand) opened in 1937
  • The Club song including Alf Milne’s bugle from the mid 1950s
  • The Collection’s oldest boots from 1948 worn by Clive Philp with current star Brad Sewell’s 2013 boots

The following exhibits have not previously been previously displayed in the public and have created great interest with the museum’s recent visitors

  • The Melbourne guernsey with the velcro hawk that Don Scott held up to the audience at the extraordinary General Meeting at the Camberwell Civic Centre in September 1996 that led to Operation Payback. 
  • The specially made 2008 Premiership book presented to the players and officials.
  • The goodbye to Waverley Park story that features first siren from 1970.

With the refurbishment of this revised display three new pictorial panels have also been added.  

Photos of the 1903 Team, Hawthorn’s first official coach appointed in 1912 and the first captain to lead the team in a final series from 1923 can be seen.  Also included are images of Club Service Certificates, the team from 1957, the first to make a VFL final, highlights from the Social Club and the front page of the Sun from 1981 with the headline Packed at the Park 92935 see Hawks down the Pies.

The new display cabinets have allowed the museum to add more depth and content to the Hawthorn story with four of the five small cabinets that initially formed part of the Chronology display being moved to the Stairways of Memories with fresh memorabilia. 

These small cabinets can be seen as part of the Wednesday Tours of Waverley Park Stadium.  

To book your place on a tour, contact Mike Warren 9535 3063

The Hawks Museum is open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily.