Australian Football

APPM (for Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd.) was formed in 1941, five years after the pulp factory itself. After spending its early years in junior competition the club was admitted to the NWFU in 1945 where it spent six highly successful seasons. At the end of its debut season in the competition it claimed a premiership with a 13.16 (94) to 8.15 (63) grand final defeat of East Devonport. Four years later it repeated the dose, this time at the expense of Ulverstone, winning on this occasion by 27 points, 14.12 (96) to 9.15 (69).

At the end of the 1950 season the NWFU decided to restrict membership to municipal clubs, forcing APPM to leave. The club was renamed South Burnie in 1956. Other than a two season stint in the NTFL during the late 1990s, the club has competed since 1951 in the Darwin Football Association, where it has enjoyed a fair amount of success, including winning five of the last six senior grade premierships. The Hawks' most recent flag - their fourteenth in the DFA - was claimed in 2018 by means of an emphatic 12.13 (85) to 3.10 (28) grand final triumph over Queenstown Crows.