The Geelong College

The Geelong College
Location
Newtown, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	38°9′5″S 144°20′18″E
Information
Type	Independent, Co-educational, Day and Boarding
Motto	Latin: Sic itur ad astra (Thus is the way to the stars')
Denomination	Uniting Church
Established	1861
Chairman	Alexander James Campbell
Principal	Pauline Turner
Enrolment	1,203 (K–12) As of 2010
Colour(s)	Navy Blue, White and Bottle Green
Website	www.geelongcollege.vic.edu.au

The Geelong College is an independent and co-educational day and boarding school located in Newtown, an inner-western suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Established in 1861 by the Reverend Alexander James Campbell, a Presbyterian minister, The Geelong College was formerly a school of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, and is today affiliated with the Uniting Church. The school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for over 1,200 students from Kindergarten through to Year 12, including 95 boarders from Years 9 to 12.

The college is affiliated with the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), the Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA), and has been a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) since 1908.

History

The Geelong College, 1906

Following the closure of the first Geelong Grammar, Reverend Alexander James Campbell, a Presbyterian minister, established a committee to found a new Presbyterian school. On Monday 8 July 1861, the Geelong College was officially established in Newtown, Geelong. George Morrison was appointed the first Principal, and three years later, he became the owner of the School. The school moved to its present-day location in 1871. Architects Alexander Davidson and George Henderson designed the college's main building.

In 1908, the College returned to the ownership of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, and became a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS). Land was acquired for a new campus in 1946, but the new Preparatory campus did not open until 1960. In 1974, the College accepted girls for the first time.

Principals

Period	Principal
1861 – 1898	Dr. G. Morrison
1898 – 1909	Mr. N Morrison
1910 – 1914	Mr. W. R. Bayly
1915 – 1919	Mr. W. T. Price
1920 – 1945	Rev. F. W. Rolland
1946 – 1960	Mr. M. A. Buntine
1960 – 1975	Mr. P. N. Thwaites
1976 – 1985	Mr. S. P. Gebhardt
1986 – 1995	Mr. A. P. Sheahan
1996 – present	Dr. P. C. Turner

Campuses

Main Oval at the Senior School

• Senior School - Years 9 to 12

Talbot Street, Newtown

• Preparatory School - Years 4 to 8

Aberdeen Street, Newtown

• Campbell House - Years Kindergarten to 3

Minerva Road, Newtown

• Mokborree (Otway Campus) - All Years

Wensleydale

House system

The Geelong College operates a house system at both its Senior School and Middle School.

At the Senior School, the house system is a main part of the pastoral care system, and there are various house sporting and music competitions every year. There are eight houses, each named after a significant person in the College's history:

House	Colour	Origin of name	Year founded
Calvert	Maroon	Stanley B Hamilton-Calvert,an Old Collegian,Council Member from 1908–1939 and Council Chairman 1922-1929	1921 Barwon; Renamed 1925
Coles	Pale blue	Sir Arthur Coles, co-founder of Coles Company, a major College benefactor, Old Collegian and Council Chairman 1939-1969	1975
Keith	Green	Bertram Robert Keith, Old Collegian, staff member 1927-1971, co-author and editor of the 1961 Geelong College Centenary History	1981
McArthur	Black	Dr A Norman McArthur, Old Collegian, Council Member 1908-1947 and interim acting Council Chairman 1939-1941
McLean	Red	Rev. Ewen Charles McLean, staff member 1940-1978, first chaplain from 1954 and honorary archivist 1979-1998	1980
Morrison	Brown	Dr George Morrison, founding Principal of The Geelong College 1861-1898 and owner 1864-1898	1921
Shannon	Dark blue	Charles Shannon, Council Member 1908-1921 and Chairman of Council 1908-1921	1921
Wettenhall	Gold	Dr Roland R Wettenhall, Old Collegian and Council Member 1927-1958	1975

At the Middle School, there are four houses, Pegasus (white), Bellerophon (blue), Minerva (red), and Helicon (green), which meet for sporting events throughout each year. The house model is not used for pastoral care at this campus. The names of these houses originate from Greek mythology.

Geelong College Challenge

The Geelong College Challenge is a competition run by the Geelong College and hosted at the Preparatory School campus, where government schools in the region can enter. The Challenge started in 1993 Participating schools send in an entry based on the set theme, and the teams with the sixteen best entries are accepted. These schools then form a team of four Year 6 students (two boys and two girls). On the weekend of the Challenge, the teams participate in various challenges, which include Art, Music, Drama, Technology, Information Technology, Physical Education and Mathematics challenges.

Notable alumni

Alumni of The Geelong College are known as Old Geelong Collegians, and may elect to join the School's alumni association, the Old Geelong Collegians' Association (OGCA). Some notable Old Geelong Collegians include:

Academic

• Sir Robert Honeycombe – scientist and metallurgist, Emeritus Professor of Metallurgy, Cambridge University, UK.
• Dr. John Marden – First Headmaster of The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney (1888–1919), and Pymble Ladies' College (1916–1919); Pioneer of women's education; Presbyterian elder

Business

• Bill Dix – Former Managing Director Ford Australia and Chairman of Qantas.^{[citation needed]}
• Don Kendell – Founder of Kendell Airlines

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Russell Boyd – Cinematographer: Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Crocodile Dundee.^{[citation needed]}
• John Duigan – Film Director/Writer
• Gideon Haigh – Journalist and author
• Robert Ingpen – Artist, writer, and illustrator
• George Ernest Morrison – Australian adventurer; Correspondent for The Times Peking (Beijing)
• Guy Pearce – Actor.

Medicine and science

• Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet – Biologist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine

Politics, public service and the law

• Justice Barry Beach – Supreme Court Judge
• Hon John Button – Federal Politician in the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments
• Sir Arthur Coles – Retail Founder, MP, Former Lord Mayor of Melbourne; First Chairman of Australian National Airlines (TAA)
• Hon Robert Doyle – Lord Mayor of Melbourne, politician; Member for Malvern in the Legislative Assembly (1992–2006); Leader of the Victorian Opposition (2002–2006)
• David Epstein – Former Chief of Staff of Kevin Rudd (Australian Prime Minister 2007–10)
• Major General Sir James Harrison – Former Governor of South Australia
• Major Cameron Hooke RAINF RL, Australian Army Officer and instructor at the Royal Military College Duntroon
• Fergus Stewart McArthur MP – Federal Member for Corangamite (Liberal Party)
• Sir Gordon Stewart McArthur – Liberal Party politician, President of the Victorian Legislative Council (1958–1965), grazier and barrister
• Sir William Gilbert Stewart McArthur – Supreme Court Judge
• Justice Alan McDonald – Supreme Court Judge

Religion

• Thomas Henry Armstrong – First Bishop of Wangaratta

Sport

• Jaxson Barham – Current AFL footballer for the Collingwood Magpies
• Tim Callan – Current AFL footballer for the Western Bulldogs
• Tim Clarke – Former AFL footballer for the Hawthorn Hawks
• Ayce Cordy – Current AFL footballer for the Western Bulldogs
• Ed Curnow – Current AFL footballer for Carlton FC
• Edward 'Carji' Greeves – Winner of the inaugural Brownlow Medal for the best and fairest player in the Victorian Football League (1924)
• Lindsay Hassett – Captain of the Australian Test cricket team from 1949 to 1953
• Lachlan Henderson – Current AFL footballer for Carlton FC
• Jack Iverson – Australian Test cricket bowler
• John Neil McArthur – Horse racing identity
• Edward Russell Mockridge – Olympic Cyclist
• Ian Redpath – Australian Test Cricketer
• Will Schofield – Current AFL footballer for the West Coast Eagles
• Paul Sheahan – Australian Test Cricketer; Former Headmaster of The Geelong College, and Melbourne Grammar School
• Dr. Alec 'Shaco' Timms – VFA footballer for Geelong and Scottish rugby international from 1896 to 1905
• Steve Horvat – Former Australian International Football Player

See also

• List of schools in Victoria

• List of boarding schools

Further reading

• Notman, G.C. & Keith, B.R. 1961. The Geelong College 1861-1961. Geelong College Council, Geelong.
• Deakin University. 1979. Portrait of the Geelong College: Continuity and Change in an Independent School. Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Vic. ISBN 0868280097.

External links

• Geelong College website