Hawker's memory lives on in scholars

Scholarships

Four University of Adelaide students have been awarded the prestigious Charles Hawker Scholarships for 2010.

The Hawker Scholarships, valued at up to $60,000 over four years, are the most generous privately funded scholarships available to undergraduate and postgraduate students in Australia.

The scholarships are awarded to academically gifted students "of principle and character, who are committed to Australia's future".

Seven Hawker Scholarships have been awarded in Australia in 2010, with four of the scholars enrolled at the University of Adelaide and resident at St Mark's College in Adelaide.

University of Adelaide students Sarah Dickins, Jonathan Hamer, Alicia Hurkmans and Melanie Johnson were presented with their scholarship certificates last month at a function at St Mark's.

Sarah, a former Mt Gambier High School student, is studying Law and Science at the University of Adelaide; Jonathan, from St Peter's College, is an Arts/Law student; Alicia, who studied at Trinity College, is undertaking a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Science; while Melanie, a former Unley High School student, is studying Law and Health Science.

Since 1991, the Trustees have awarded almost $4 million to 90 young Australians, including a significant number from regional areas. The seven successful candidates for 2010 were awarded a Charles Hawker Scholarship from a strong field of 280 applicants.

"These scholarships have provided opportunities for an increasing number of young Australian students to undertake further studies to achieve their full potential," said former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Member for Wannon and Hawker family member the Hon. David Hawker MP.

"The Charles Hawker Scholarship is one of the most important in Australia. I commend the Trustees for the contribution the scholarship has already made and will continue to make to the education of a number of outstanding young Australians.

"Each of these recipients has already displayed a strong commitment to the ideals upon which the Charles Hawker Scholarship Memorial Trust Fund is founded. They are gifted scholars with inquiring minds and have already contributed to the wider community."

Mr Hawker said Charles Hawker was "a great Australian who offered his best through his commitment to his country, countrymen and women and democracy".

"These are values that I hope the scholars today take with them into their studies. Through his example and these scholarships it's my hope that public service will be included in the career options of recipients."

The Charles Hawker Scholarship perpetuates the memory and commemorates the achievements of one of Australia's most respected pastoral pioneers. Born in 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 in 1938.

For more information, visit: www.hawkerscholarship.org