Both were early settlers; Hawkes aboard Gratitude in August 1848, and Frances Sarah Anne Symonds on Marion in February 1849.
When the South Australian Government adopted a protectionist policy around 1880, the management of D. & J. Fowler, Limited, decided to begin manufacturing groceries, and began offering farmers a market for products such as chicory, which had previously been imported.
Around 1885 they appointed Hawkes manager of that side of their Adelaide business, with a staff of eight, which forty years later had grown to ninety.
Hawkes represented D. & J. Fowler at the SA Chamber of Manufactures He was a member of the Church of Christ, and helped found churches at Maylands and Nailsworth, was a leader of the Men's Bible Class at Norwood and was for 25 a reader, in rotation with John Verco and W. C. Brooker, and served as lay preacher at Queenstown.
Robert Hawkes (c. 1803 – 30 August 1866) married to Sarah; he was land agent of King William Street; home on Magill Road, Norwood.