Charles Ewart Hawke

Charles Ewart Hawke 1916.
Image courtesy Patricia Hobbs.

Charles Hawke was the son of Thomas Hawke, a name long-associated with the Orange fruit growing industry. A keen cricketer and footballer, 23 year old Charles was working as an orchardist on his father’s property on Canobolas Road when the war broke out. He enlisted in September 1915 and embarked for the continent in December that year. Charles served as a private in France and Belgium, returning to Australia in June 1919.

In September 1919 Charles and Valerie Lawson became were engaged in Orange. They married at the Methodist church in Leichhardt on 25 October that year. The couple had three children – Bruce, Marie and Neville, and spent the rest of their lives at Martinvale, 24 Canobolas Road. Charles died in September 1954, and Valerie in January 1965.

Charles Hawke’s name appears on the Ancient Order of Foresters Orange Roll of Honor and the Methodist Church Orange Honour Roll.