2017 Hawker Scholar Ms Ella Graham is an outstanding student and remarkable young woman who has achieved much in a very short time. Ella has always lived in regional Australia and has been educated at Booleroo Centre District School in the mid-north of South Australia. She moved to St Mark’s College this year to commence a double degree of Law and Development Studies at the University of Adelaide. Ella exemplified the Booleroo Centre District School’s motto of ‘Strive to Excel’. In her final year, she also achieved the award of Student of the Year, the school’s highest honour for academic and personal success. In her 2016 gap year, her passion for human rights and education lead her to join the volunteer organisation Latitude Global Volunteering and she wrote her Hawker Scholarship application while she was living in a rural village in Malawi in Africa where she had volunteered to teach.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Hawker family member, the Hon David Hawker AO, presented four new Charles Hawker Scholars with their scholarship certificates this at a ceremony held at the College on Thursday 1st June. Hawker Scholarships were also presented to Ollie Brown from Melbourne, MacKinlay Cookson from Borambola (NSW) and Daniel McKay from Bathurst (NSW). Ollie is enrolled at the ANU and is studying a Bachelor of Philosophy double degree majoring in Theoretical Physics and Pure Mathematics, MacKinlay is studying a Bachelor of Business (Agribusiness) degree at Marcus Oldham College at Geelong (VIC) and Daniel will commence a twelve-month postgraduate MPhil in World History at the University of Cambridge (UK) later this year.
The late Lilias Needham, in memory of her brother, established the Charles Hawker Scholarship Trust. The C.A.S. Hawker Scholarship, valued at up to $50,000 over three years, is one of the most generous privately funded residential scholarships available to Australian undergraduate and postgraduate students. Since 1990, the Trustees have awarded more than $5 million dollars to 118 young Australian students, including a significant number from regional areas. A number of successful Hawker scholars have also completed part of their degree when they apply. The four successful candidates for 2017 were awarded Hawker Scholarships from a strong field of 184 applicants.
Friends and family, college representatives, current Hawker scholars and Trustees of the C.A.S. Hawker Scholarship attended the function at St Mark’s College.
“I congratulate the four 2017 scholars, each of whom has already displayed a strong commitment to the splendid ideals upon which the Charles Hawker Scholarship Memorial Trust Fund is founded. They are gifted scholars with inquiring minds and have already significantly contributed to the well being of the wider community,” the Hon David Hawker AO said.
There are a number of scholarships awarded each year. The Trustees offer them to capable students of principle and character, who are committed to Australia’s future.
The Charles Hawker Scholarship perpetuates the memory and commemorates the achievements of one of Australia’s most respected pastoral pioneers. Born on May 16th 1894 at Bungaree homestead near Clare in South Australia, Charles Hawker was educated at Geelong Church of England Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Student, soldier, pastoralist and statesman Charles Allan Seymour Hawker died in the Kyeema air disaster on October 25th, 1938.
Undergraduate and postgraduate Hawker Scholars are able to attend a range of educational institutions. These include the Australian National University, Adelaide, Flinders, South Australian and New England Universities and Marcus Oldham College. Postgraduate Charles Hawker Scholars are also able to follow in Charles Hawker’s footsteps by studying at Cambridge UK.
“C.A.S. Hawker was a truly remarkable man and a great Australian. This scholarship is a fitting tribute to his memory and each of these four scholars is a much deserved recipient,” the Hon. David Hawker AO said.
Selection is based on personal qualities as well as academic ability. Applications for the 2018 Charles Hawker Scholarships open on December 4th 2017 and close on January 5th 2018. An application form and further information is available from www.hawkerscholarship.org or by contacting the secretary to the Trustees on 08 8127 1654.
Photography by Rosey Boehm.
