The Main Building at Prince Alfred College, 2022.Returning to shore at Head of the River, 2022.Year 6 production of William-Shakespeare's 'The-Tempest', 2022.
The school has enrolment of some 1,160 students from Reception to Year 12 (ages 2 to 18),[1] including some 151 boarders from years seven to twelve.[2] Prince Alfred College launched its own Early Learning Centre, Little Princes, in 1999, which was renamed Princes ELC in 2009, with a current enrolment of 260 students.[6]
History
Prince Alfred College was named after Prince Alfred during his visit to Adelaide in 1867. Alfred was one of the four sons of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. The school has attracted many royal visitors since its foundation, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1954.
The founders of PAC were determined that the religious traditions of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, should be indoctrinated in the school. Young Methodist men of the colony and PAC were encouraged to live disciplined, hard working and predominantly Christian lives, even though they were mocked facing society's temptations.
The only female student to attend the school was Lilian Staple Mead, daughter of Baptist minister Silas Mead, in 1883–1884, in order to matriculate and enter University at a time when few schools were available for girls to do so.[7][8][9]
At one time, Princes was the only college in Adelaide to offer the IB Diploma at all three stages; the PYP and MYP are compulsory units of work for Preparatory and Middle school students, enabling its students to continue to complete the Diploma in year 11 and 12, or to be recognised nationally with the SACE.[10][11][12]
On Wednesday 18 April 2018, Elizabeth II's son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited Prince Alfred College, and participated in an unveiling a stone to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the College.[13] In 2019, Prince Alfred College celebrated its sesquicentenary 150th Anniversary.
The original school campus is in the Adelaide suburb of Kent Town. The school also owns two other campuses, one for outdoor education in Scott's Creek, and the other in Point Turton named 'Wambana'.[16]
Kent Town
The original and main campus is located in Kent Town, approximately 2 km east of the Adelaide city centre. The land, originally leased by Dr Benjamin Archer Kent from 1840 to 1859, then bought by Charles Robin,[17] was bought at auction from Charles Robin for £2750 on 18 September 1865.[citation needed] However, it was not until 22 June 1969 that the college celebrated its inauguration, two years after the laying of the foundation stone by H.R.H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.[18][19]
The school campus is divided by the main building, with the preparatory school on the Flinders Street (south) side of the school, and the middle and Senior schools on the Capper Street (north) side.
Scotts Creek Campus
Scotts Creek campus is the college's Murray River retreat. The Scotts Creek Outdoor Centre is located near Morgan, approximately 165 km from Adelaide. It provides a mix of environmental education, adventure and personal development activities.[20]
Wambana Campus
Wambana Campus is an off school ground recreational camp. The primary purpose of Wambana is to foster growth by helping adolescent boys better manage the transition to adulthood through immersion in community, academic, spiritual and outdoor adventures.[16]
Wambana is a six-acre (approx. 2.5 hectares) property situated on the coast of southern Yorke Peninsula, bordering the township of Point Turton and rural farming land. Students and staff live in a small village in which residential accommodation and a classroom are clustered around a central meeting facility. The property consists of six accommodation buildings known as "Wardlis" (aboriginal word meaning "dwelling"). Wambana accommodates up to 32 students for five-week periods.[16]
Rowing began at PAC in 1883 and has played an important part in the school's sporting culture since that time. The school has two boat houses, at West Lakes and by the Torrens Lake in the City of Adelaide's parklands. The school employs a full-time Director of Rowing, (currently Mr. Will Maling). Although competition in local and national regattas forms an integral part of the rowing programme, the main event for each year is the Head of the River. The school won the Head of the River in 2012, 2013 and 2014, captained by Jack Kelly (2012), Nicholas Parletta (2013) & William Burfield (2014). These years marked the first time the college has won three consecutive titles at the event.
Intercol
Each sports team at Princes has an annual fixture against traditional longtime rivals Saint Peter's College, known as the "Intercol" (Inter-collegiate). These are considered by the two colleges to be the most important games of the seasons, and the fiercely fought matches of the more popular sports draw big crowds of students and old scholars from both schools.[21] The Intercols have been played for over 100 years. At one time, the Australian rules football and the Cricket intercols were both played on Adelaide Oval. The Cricket Intercollegiate match has been competed since 1878. According to Richard Sproull[who?] this is "the oldest unbroken annual contest in the history of cricket" (Weekend Australian 5/6 December 1992).
Outdoor education
The Prince Alfred College Outdoor Education programme provides a variety of integrated activities designed to allow boys to face challenges beyond those possible in a suburban day school. Current activities are focused on the Scotts Creek Outdoor Centre at Morgan on the River Murray.
In 2008, the college opened its Wambana Campus at Point Turton on the Yorke Peninsula. Year 9 students spend 5 weeks at the new facility, learning field science and mathematics along with other subjects and life skills as well as community service.
The Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for study at Oxford University. As of 2023, PAC has educated 20 Rhodes Scholars throughout its 154 year history. Recipients who attended PAC include:
Dr. Matthew Bolt (1986–), former Australian Under 23 Rower, stroke of the 2011 Bronze medal winning South Australian Kings Cup crew, member of 2012 Bronze medal winning Kings Cup crew, former Captain of Adelaide University Boat Club
Alexander Hill (1993–), Current Australian Rowing Team member, Olympic Silver Medallist (Rio 2016) M4-, World Cup Medallist, Australian Under 23 Rower, 2011/2012 Bronze medal winning Kings Cup crew member, former Under 19 World Champion[citation needed]
Brian Richardson (1948–), former Olympic Rower, Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980[citation needed]
^ ab"Prince Alfred College". Schools – South Australia. Australian Boarding Staff Association. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
^Jenkinson, Gary (21 March 2007). "Princes set for – showdown". Messenger – Eastern Courier. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 54.
^"Prince Alfred's knockout win". Messenger – Eastern Courier. Adelaide, South Australia. 9 April 2008. p. 46.
^Blake, Martin (7 May 2009). "Sporting life". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. p. 12.
^"Prince Alfred College; First steps in a quality education; Advertising Feature; Kindergarten sets new standards". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. 7 August 1999. p. A24.
^"Hail and Farewell – Letters from Two Brothers Killed in France in 1916", Ed. Margaret Young and Bill Gammage, Kangaroo Press 1995 ISBN0-86417-707-0. Also "Records of an Australian Lieutenant 1915–16", privately published.
^Welborn, Suzanne (1990). "Throssell, Hugo Vivian Hope (1884–1933)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 12 (Online ed.). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. pp. 223–224. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
^australianfootball.com player profile [1] and Norwood Football Club player profile [2]
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