Hawthorn is an inner suburb of Melbourne, 6 km east of the CBD within the City of Boroondara, bounded by the Yarra River to the west, Gardiners Creek to the south, Burke Road to the east and Barkers Road to the north. The suburb records a population of approximately 22,300, a figure supplemented significantly by the student population of Swinburne University, whose main campus occupies a prominent position beside Glenferrie Station.
Begin your Hawthorn trip the right way with Elite Taxis, Melbourne’s trusted choice for transport to and from Hawthorn providing a safe, comfortable, prompt premium car service, so you can relax and focus on your journey. Book a luxury taxi ride today for a smooth, stress-free travel experience.
The name, gazetted in 1840 as “Hawthorne”, is thought to have come from a remark by Governor La Trobe, who observed that the native shrubs of the area resembled flowering hawthorn bushes — though an equally plausible origin is the bluestone house named ‘The Hawthorns’, built at 5 Creswick Street in 1843 and still standing today. The land was first surveyed in 1837 and pastoral allotments began selling in the 1840s, with early development clustering around the Church Street and Burwood Road intersection near the Yarra River crossing.
Hawthorn was originally a brick-making suburb. The rich clay deposits around the lower reaches of Gardiners Creek and in the Auburn area sustained multiple brickworks through the second half of the 19th century, and many of the suburb’s best-loved parks today sit on the sites of former clay quarries, filled in over time and converted to open space. The extension of the railway from Burnley to Hawthorn in 1861, and then onwards to Glenferrie in 1882, transformed the suburb dramatically — accelerating residential subdivision and drawing a commuter middle class whose grand Victorian and Edwardian houses gave the suburb a prosperous character that endures in its streetscapes today. Hawthorn was proclaimed a City in 1890, the same year the landmark Town Hall on Burwood Road was completed, and it remained its own municipality until amalgamation into the City of Boroondara in 1994.
Inner Eastern Melbourne · City of Boroondara
Hawthorn
Points of Interest
Things To Do
Glenferrie Road
The commercial heart of Hawthorn and one of 82 Major Activity Centres identified in Melbourne’s metropolitan strategy, Glenferrie Road is a lively, walkable shopping and dining strip running through the suburb’s centre from Hawthorn Station north to Glenferrie Station. Supermarkets, bookshops, boutiques, beauty salons, gourmet grocers, cafés and bars line the street in close succession. On the first Sunday of each month the Hawthorn Makers Market takes over the strip, bringing together artisan goods, specialty produce, coffee and local design in a market that has run for well over a decade.
Hawthorn Arts Centre
The former Hawthorn Town Hall on Burwood Road is one of Melbourne’s finest examples of repurposed civic heritage. Built in 1888 and extensively restored in 2013, the building now operates as a cultural hub under the City of Boroondara, housing three gallery spaces including the Town Hall Gallery, a community library lounge, artist workshops, live performance events and the Boroondara Arts Shop stocking original works by local artists. Entry to the galleries is free, the programme rotates regularly, and the building itself — with its soaring ceilings, decorative painted walls, grand chandeliers and stained glass — is well worth seeing independent of whatever is on the walls.
Lido Cinemas & Jazz Room
The Lido has been a Glenferrie Road presence since it first opened as a single-screen cinema in 1912. Reinvented and expanded in 2015 as an eight-screen artiplex, it shows a programme spanning mainstream releases, arthouse and international cinema, special events and film festivals. The building’s 1930s architectural bones — original railings, tiles and structural features — have been woven through a bold contemporary interior design. The Lido Jazz Room in the basement channels the mood of a 1980s Manhattan jazz bar with weekly live performances; the rooftop cinema operates through summer with open-air screenings, bean bags and a dedicated bar above the Glenferrie Road streetscape.
Grace Park Estate
Laid out in 1897 on the western side of the suburb, Grace Park is one of Hawthorn’s most distinctive and beautiful precincts. The public reserve at its centre is surrounded by three curved crescents and intersecting tree-lined streets carrying a remarkable collection of intact Victorian and Edwardian housing — much of it heritage-listed. The park itself offers open lawns, a tennis club and sporting facilities, and the overall estate represents the 1880s land boom vision of an upper-class garden suburb at its most complete and intact.
Hawthorn Aquatic & Leisure Centre
On Grace Street, steps from both Glenferrie Road and Grace Park, the Hawthorn Aquatic and Leisure Centre provides a 50-metre outdoor swimming pool, a warm-water indoor pool, a well-equipped gymnasium, group fitness classes and a sauna. It serves as the suburb’s primary community sports and fitness facility, open from 6am on weekdays and accessible from Glenferrie Station in a short walk.
Yarra River & Gardiners Creek Trails
Hawthorn’s western and southern boundaries run along two of Melbourne’s great river corridors. The Main Yarra Trail follows the river west toward the city and east through parkland toward the Dandenong Ranges, passing boatsheds, wetland habitat and sweeping river bends. Gardiners Creek along the suburb’s southern edge connects into a broader network of shared paths running toward Glen Waverley and the Dandenong Creek corridor. Together they give Hawthorn residents and visitors some of inner Melbourne’s finest off-road walking and cycling access, entirely within reach of the suburb’s cafés and train stations.
Why Use Elite Taxis?
Our Luxury Fleet
Our luxury cars are meticulously maintained to ensure the utmost comfort, safety, and style.
Our Professional Chauffeurs
Our skilled, experienced, courteous drivers are trained to anticipate and fulfil all your travel needs.
Our Personalised Service
We live to create a seamless personalised travel experience, whether for business or pleasure, tailored to your preferences.
Our Reliability
We get you there. Our vehicles are reliable, and our drivers prompt and efficient.
Click to view our Elite Taxis Melbourne Google Profile & Map.
Or post a review.
Service Areas
The Premiere Melbourne Taxi Service offering Luxury Travel with Premium Comfort and Style, and trained and attentive drivers in obsessively well-maintained vehicles providing you with an Unforgettable Journey.
We cover all of Melbourne, however these are the most frequented service areas:
