Prince Alfred College

Academic

Senior students study to achieve the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE),^[7] or the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme. In 2016, PAC ranked equal 9th in South Australia and 524th nationally for academic achievement (including NAPLAN, ATAR, IBD).^[8][9] In the same year PAC was close to average in all NAPLAN scores for Year 9 when compared to similar schools. When compared to all Australian schools it was substantially above average in reading and numeracy, above average for grammar and punctuation, and average for spelling.^[10] PAC has 112 teaching staff and 117 non-teaching staff.^[11]

Demographic

Of the 1102 students attending the school in 2016, 68% of students have parents in the top quarter of Australian society in socio-economic terms, while 1% come from the bottom quarter. 1% of students have indigenous heritage, while 18% have a non-English speaking background.^[11]

Financial

According to the Australian Government's MySchool website, in 2015 PAC recorded a net income of $28m, 72% of which came from student fees ($26k from each student), 16% from the Australian Government and 6% from private sources.^[12]

List of headmasters

• 1869–1870 Samuel Fiddian
• 1871–1875 John Hartley
• 1876–1914 Frederic Chapple
• 1915–1929 W. R. Bayly
• 1930–1948 Fred Ward^[17]
• 1949–1969 John Dunning
• 1970–1987 Geoffrey Bean
• 1988–1999 Brian Webber
• 2000–2004 Dr. Stephen Codrington^[18]
• 2004–2014 Kevin Tutt
• 2014-current Bradley Fenner

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,^[20] was bought at auction from Charles Robin for £2750 on 18 September 1865. 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.^[21][22]

A feature of the college is the Main Building, which was built in three sections. The central section was ready for use in 1869 and housed offices, teaching areas, a residence for the Headmaster, and accommodation for boarders, who have been an important aspect of the College's history. The Waterhouse Wing (south) was added in 1877, and increased the boarding accommodation, as well as providing an assembly room, and a science laboratory. The Cotton Wing (north), added in 1881, further expanded boarding space and teaching areas. The science hall was opened in 1891, and the Main Building was completed in 1889. The cast iron fence and railings around the front of the grounds were erected by 1905 by the NCP. The former residence of Alexander Dowie became the preparatory school in 1911.^[21][22]

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. Some of the facilities within the Kent Town Campus include:^[23]

• Accommodation for approximately 140 boarding students
• Classrooms
• Computer Rooms
• Science Laboratories
• Frederic Chapple Library
• The Preparatory Library
• The Gerard Theatre
• The Eric Freak Memorial Chapel
• ANZAC Hall
• Piper Pavilion
• The John Dunning Sports Centre
• RED Centre (Sports and Health Centre)

Eric Freak Memorial Chapel

Eric Freak Memorial Chapel (34°55'23.73"S 138°37'9.92"E) was built in 1972 as a memorial to Eric Freak (1916–34, PAC 1929-33), an outstanding tennis player who succeeded in schoolboy championships and promised a brilliant career in the game before his premature death. The Chapel contains a number of instruments including a grand piano and an organ.^[24]

ANZAC Hall

ANZAC Hall (34°55'20.29"S 138°37'4.59"E) was relaunched in September 2010 after renovation works which turned it into a fully equipped theatre facility with audio and lighting capabilities. The building provides extensive facilities for music, drama, workshops, seminars and associated events. ANZAC Hall seats up to 800 people.^[25]

Piper Pavilion

The Piper Pavilion (34°55'21.07"S 138°37'5.45"E), adjacent to ANZAC Hall, is a venue for exhibitions, trade shows, seminars, conferences, cocktail receptions and flow on events from ANZAC Hall.^[26]

The John Dunning Sports Centre

The John Dunning Sports Centre (34°55'25.03"S 138°37'11.27"E) is a facility for the preparatory school's students. It seats approximately 700 people, and can also be used for hosting theatrical performances, art shows, luncheons, alumni events and presentation evenings.^[27]

Sports Centre (RED Centre)

The Sports Centre (34°55'16.68"S 138°37'8.68"E) is a flexible multi-purpose sporting and health facility, including a two court basketball stadium, an indoor swimming pool, change room facilities, squash courts, and a number of multi-purpose teaching and function spaces. It was redeveloped, and was completed in early 2013. It also houses a health and fitness studio.^[28]

Scotts Creek Campus

Scotts Creek campus (34° 5'30.81"S 139°40'2.70"E) 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.^[29]

Wambana Campus

Wambana Campus (34°57'5.58"S 137°21'45.77"E) 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.^[19]

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 28 students for four week periods.^[19]

Rowing

College rowing team, 1891

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 James Hammond). 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.^[30] 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 this is "the oldest unbroken annual contest in the history of cricket" (Weekend Australian 5/6 December 1992).

Rhodes Scholars

The Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for study at Oxford University. South Australian recipients^[31] who attended PAC include:

Academia, medicine and science

• Herbert Basedow (1881–1933), Anthropologist, geologist, explorer, politician
• Roger Brissenden (1962-) Deputy Director, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Henry Brose (1890–1965), Physicist, translator, pathologist, biochemist, academic, Rhodes Scholar
• Sir Raphael Cilento, medical practitioner and public health administrator
• Sir John Burton Cleland, CBE (1878–1971), Naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist, ornithologist, Professor of Pathology
• Henry Fry, DSO (1886–1959), Physician, anthropologist, Rhodes Scholar
• Bill Griggs, AM, ASM, doctor
• Brian Kenneth Hobbs (1937–2004), doctor
• Lyell McEwin (1897–1987), politician
• Con Stough – Professor of Psychology – Swinburne University
• John Burnard West (1928- ), respiratory physiologist

Business

• Tim Cooper (1955–), CEO of Coopers Brewery^[35]
• Glenn Cooper (1952–), Executive Chairman of Coopers Brewery^[36]
• Robert Gerard, Businessman, previously Chairman of Gerard Industries
• Sir Edward Holden (1885–1947), Founder of Holden, vehicle manufacturer
• Greg Siegele, Co-founder of Ratbag Games Pty Ltd

Education

• William Bayly, Headmaster - Geelong College Vic and Prince Alfred College SA
• Sir Brian Hone OBE FACE (1907-1978), Headmaster - Cranbrook School NSW and Melbourne Grammar School Vic

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Sir John Ashton, OBE, ROI (1881–1963), Painter and Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Charles Baeyertz (1866–1943), publisher of The Triad, critic and broadcaster
• Chris Bailey (1950–2013), bass guitarist with ARIA award winning Australian Bands 'The Angels' and 'GANGgajang'^[37]
• David Basheer, Association Football commentator and analyst on SBS
• Bob Francis (1939–2016), radio presenter, FIVEaa
• Robert Hannaford, AM (1944–), portrait painter and sculptor
• Ivor Hele (1912–1993), war artist and prolific portraitist
• Sir Robert Helpmann, CBE (1909–1986), Ballet dancer, actor, director and choreographer
• Graham Jenkin, Poet, composer and historian
• Hayley Lever (1876–1958), painter
• Adam Liaw (1978–), lawyer and winner of 2010 MasterChef Australia
• Rex Heading (1929–2010), the creator of Humphrey B. Bear whose show won two Logies; former managing director of Channel Nine ^[38]

Exploration

• Duncan Chessell (1970–), Mountaineer
• Cecil Madigan (1889–1947), Explorer, Geologist, Rhodes Scholar, University Lecturer
• Andrew Martin (1951-), Marathon swimmer, first recorded solo crossing of the treacherous Backstairs Passage between Cape Jervis and Kangaroo Island.^[39]

Military & defence

• Major-General Sir Newton Moore KCMG (1870–1936), eighth Premier of Western Australia, World War I general, member of the UK House of Commons
• John Alexander Raws, journalist and WW1 diarist, killed in action 23 Aug 1916 at Pozieres – no known grave^[40]
• Lieutenant Leonard Taplin, DFC, World War fighter ace, pioneer aerial photographer and aerial cartographer
• Captain Hugo Vivian Hope Throssell, VC (1884–1933), soldier, farmer^[41]

Politics, public service and the law

• Cory Bernardi (1969–), Senator for South Australia since 2006, also the youngest ever member of the Australian heavyweight rowing squad
• Harold Boas (1883–1980), Perth architect and town planner
• Sir John Lavington Bonython (1875–1960), editor of The Advertiser, Lord Mayor of Adelaide (1927–1930)
• Grant Chapman (1949–), Member for Division of Kingston (1975–1983) and Senator for South Australia (1988–2008)
• David Combe (1943-), National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party from 1973 to 1981.
• John Lancelot Cowan, Member for the District of Southern Districts (1949-1959) in the South Australian Legislative Council
• Charles Glover (1870–1936), first Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide (1919)
• Lionel Logue, CVO (1880–1953), speech therapist who successfully treated King George VI's stammer
• Major-General Sir Newton Moore KCMG (1870–1936), eighth Premier of Western Australia, World War I general, member of the UK House of Commons
• Sir Geoffrey Reed (1892–1970), judge in the Supreme Court of South Australia, first Director-General of ASIO
• Nick Xenophon (1959–), South Australian Legislative Council member (1997-2008) and Senator for South Australia (2008-2017), leader of the SA-Best party.

Sport