Hawthorn Suburb Overview
Hawthorn is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 kilometres east from Melbourne’s Central Business District. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2011 Census, Hawthorn had a population of 21,177.
Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, is designated one of 82 Major Activity Centres in the Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy.
The area was first settled in the late 1830s. The Boroondara Roads Board, the first municipal authority, was set up in the 1850s and covered a remarkably similar area to the present City of Boroondara. Boroondara is an aboriginal word reputed to mean place of shade. However, the Hawthorn Roads Board and the Kew Roads Board split from the rest of Boroondara in 1860. The HRB evolved into the Town of Hawthorn and the City of Hawthorn. The state government amalgamated the Cities of Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew in 1994 to form the City of Boroondara.
The name Hawthorn, gazetted in 1840 as “Hawthorne”, is thought to have originated from a conversation involving Charles La Trobe, who commented that the native shrubs looked like flowering Hawthorn bushes. Alternatively the name may originate with the bluestone house, so named, and built by James Denham St Pinnock, which stands to this day.
The region is generally regarded to be one of Melbourne’s surviving bastions of post- Gold Rush expansion. Land values in the region are among the country’s highest, especially Hawthorn Grove, in the prestigious Grace Park Estate, straddling the suburb’s northern boundary and Yarra Park in the west, Shakespear Grove and Coppin Grove, located closer to the Yarra River. Interestingly, there is also a considerable amount of student accommodation, due mainly to the presence of Swinburne University. This is located in the Hawthorn East and Auburn areas.
Construction of the bridge in 1860 spurred development on the east side of the Yarra River, and ensured the prominence of Bridge Road, Richmond and Burwood Road, Hawthorn as the main thoroughways to the eastern suburbs.
Hawthorn is the home of Swinburne University of Technology, which offers university and TAFE courses.
The suburb is also the home of a number of private schools, such as Erasmus School of Primary Education, St. Josephs Primary School and Scotch College, the latter being one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the country.
The area gives good geographical access to private schools in Camberwell, Malvern and Hawthorn East, including Alia College and Bialik College, as well as those in Kew, such as Xavier College, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Methodist Ladies’ College, Ruyton Girls’ School, Genazzano FCJ College and Trinity Grammar School. Just west of Hawthorn is the Melbourne Girls’ College.
The suburb also contains good state-run schools, such as Glenferrie Primary School and Hawthorn West Primary School. Both schools boast rich, stimulating curricula. The area also gives access to state schools in nearby Hawthorn East;Hawthorn Secondary College, Auburn Primary School and Auburn South Primary School.
Glenferrie Road is a major shopping strip, with two supermarkets, all major banks and many chain and specialty stores. There are also shopping centres at the corner of Burwood Road and Power Street, in Church Street, in Auburn Road, the corner of Glenferrie Road and Riversdale Road and the corner of Auburn Road and Riversdale Road.
Nearby Suburbs
