The Hawksburn State School site was situated on one acre of land at Malvern and Surrey Roads in Hawksburn, a residential area 5 km south-east of Melbourne, between South Yarra and Prahran.

The school was originally six allotments in the Dunster Estate, which were purchased on 8 October 1873, from a Mrs Margaret Hobson, at a cost of £1,110. It was the first major public institution in Hawsburn. Initially called the Prahran Primary School, in the 1880s it became Prahran North and in 1906, Hawksburn.

A brick school building designed by Crouch and Wilson architects was erected in December 1874. It was formally opened on 11 January 1875 by Walter M. Gamble. Additions were opened in 1889 and 1899. The head teachers of the school included Walter M. Gamble (1875-78); H. Templeton (1878-94); and, in 1895 until at least 1911, C. S. Halkyard.

Additional land was purchased for the school in 1908 costing £1,600: 125 feet to Cromwell Road by 184 feet. Infant classrooms were added to the Hawksburn State School in 1911.

A bronze prize medal was awarded to students of Hawksburn State School at the 1907 First Australian Exhibition of Women's Work, held at the Exhibition Building (NU 18530). It was won for an exhibit of wands. This was an important national exhibition that was seen as uniting the new nation through the work of women.

The Hawksburn State School was closed in the early 1990s.

References:
Cooper's History of Prahran, 1911.
City of Stonnington website http://stonlib.stonnington.vic.gov.au, accessed 19/1/2004.

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