After an absence of 10 months due to COVID, the Hawks Museum staff was pleasantly surprised - then shocked - to the see the large collection of boxes and bags stacked inside the Museum’s front door.

We followed this surprise by checking the mailbox, then by listening to countless phone messages and then by reading the large number of emails left on the museum computer. 

Many had a familiar query: ‘When will the Museum reopen?  We have been cleaning up and we wonder whether the Museum is interested in receiving either my dad’s, my mother’s or the family’s collection of Hawthorn memorabilia.’  It quickly became apparent that many of the club’s supporter base had taken the opportunity during lockdown to clean out their garages, spare rooms or the spaces under their beds!

Happily, this large mass of Hawthorn memorabilia soon revealed a number of significant additions to the club collection. One such significant offer was a collection of scrapbooks, complied by Janine Kelly who has been a club member for 53 years. Her father Brian started taking her to the footy when she was three. She claimed her dad brainwashed her into becoming an ardent fan of the Hawks! Kelly has no regrets as she treasures fond memories at the footy with her father, urging on the Hawks. She attended all matches played at the various home grounds of opposition clubs, always standing to watch whether it was rain, hail or sunshine. 

In 1980, at the age of 12, Janine started her first scrapbook and she amassed a total of 20 scrapbooks through to 1986. They are a treasure trove of the Hawks’ highs and lows of the early, golden 1980s. They include match reports, news items and photos of established players of the ilk of Don Scott, Leigh Matthews, Peter Knights, Ian Paton and the emerging stars in Ken Judge, Dermott Brereton, Chris Mew, Peter Schwab, John Platten and John Kennedy. All have been faithfully glued to the pages in chronological order. Janine is to be commended as she included all the dates so often missing in such scrapbooks!

Janine has continued the family tradition, in her words, of brainwashing her 10-year-old daughter Rahni into following the Hawks! Rahni became a member at the age of three, much to her father’s disappointment. He is a rusted-on Magpie. 

A second collection of Hawthorn memorabilia was donated by Lindsay Paterson, a member of the Friends of the Hawks Museum since the group was established in 1995. Lindsay has been a donor for many years and his donations have often been on the quirky side! His offerings have included items with Hawk branding be it a toothbrush, a moneybox or a Coles shopping bag with images of James Worpel, Jack Gunston, Chad Wingard and Jaeger O’Meara. But, as always, his items add depth to the collection. One such item is a delightful brown and gold tea cosy, knitted by his grandma, Hellen Burrell and her daughter, his mother, Jean Paterson when she was a very young girl. Other items include a round key ring with an image of a Hawk from the late 1950s and a plastic brown and gold biro from a similar period.

Lindsay has been assisting the Hawks Museum with the book currently being compiled for the 50^th Anniversary of the 1971 Premiership. As a young lad, Lindsay took photos of the unveiling of the 1971 Premiership pennant, the same fateful day when Peter Hudson injured his knee.  Lindsay’s photos will be seen in the book, along with his written memories of that day.

One of the phone messages we received during COVID was from Susan Holdberton, another long-standing Hawk supporter who attended the footy with her father.  She had been sorting out her late father’s belongings when she rediscovered his Hawthorn newspaper collection. Susan didn’t have the heart to put her dad’s collection in the skip and fortunately decided to ring the Hawks Museum. 

After speaking to Susan, it was arranged to meet at her local train station to accept her father’s collection. Three items immediately caught our eye, three Football Records in mint condition. The Grand Final Record from 1961 when the Hawks won their first premiership, a second Grand Final Record from 1958, which was the day the Reserve 18 won its first premiership and the third Football Record was from the First semi final in 1957 when the Hawks defeated Carlton in the club’s first senior finals appearance.  Also included in this collection were newspapers of the day, finals lift-outs from 1961 through to 1992 from years when Hawthorn participated, and all in as new collection. Susan’s father had obviously taken great pride and care with his collection. Susan was rapt that her father’s cherished collection had found a home in the archives of his favourite team, Hawthorn.

To all who have donated to the Hawks Museum during COVID, we thank you.