Geelong College

Early version of the College crest

Following the closure of the first Geelong Grammar, Campbell established a committee to found a new Presbyterian school. On 8 July 1861, Geelong College was officially established. The school year later started with an enrolment of 62. George Morrison was appointed the first principal and three years later became the owner of the school. The school moved to its present location in 1871. The architects Alexander Davidson and George Henderson designed its 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 in 1946 but the new preparatory campus did not open until 1960. This particular campus became co-educational in 1974, with co-education being extended to the senior campus in 1975. The college undertook an extensive redevelopment and refurbishment of the middle school, which is on the preparatory campus, in 2012.

Main Oval at the Senior School

• Senior School – Years 9 to 12

Talbot Street, Newtown

• Middle School – Years 4 to 8

Aberdeen Street, Newtown

• Junior School – Kindergarten to Year 3

Minerva Road, Newtown

• Mokborree (Otway Campus) – All Years

(Under Development)

A house system operates at both the senior and middle schools. Each house is named after a significant person in the college's history. Sporting and music competitions are held between them each year.

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 Roman mythology.

Geelong College football team, 1878

Secondary students of the college participate in the summer, winter and spring seasons of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS)/Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria (AGSV) sport competition. Choices offered for summer sports include Badminton, cricket (boys only), softball (girls only), tennis and rowing. Winter sports include AFL football (boys only), netball (girls only), soccer and basketball. Students may also participate in a number of local competitions and the college is particularly known for its excellence and achievement in rowing competitions.

The Geelong College Challenge is a competition run by the college at the preparatory school campus in which government schools in the region can enter. The challenge started in 1993.[8] Participating schools send in an entry based on the set theme and the teams with the 16 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.

Alumni of the school are known as Old Geelong Collegians and may elect to join the alumni association, the Old Geelong Collegians' Association (OGCA).[9] Some notable Old Geelong Collegians include:

Academic

• Sir Robert Honeycombe – scientist and metallurgist, Emeritus Professor of Metallurgy at Cambridge University, UK.[10]
• 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[11]

Business

• James Scouler Coles – brother and business partner of G. J. Coles; killed in World War I[12]
• Bill Dix – former Managing Director of Ford Australia and Chairman of Qantas
• Don Kendell – founder of Kendell Airlines[13]

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Russell Boyd – cinematographer: Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Crocodile Dundee.
• John Duigan – film director and writer
• Gideon Haigh – journalist and author
• Robert Ingpen – artist, writer and illustrator
• Rebecca Maddern – journalist
• Veronica Milsom – comedian and triple j radio presenter
• George Ernest Morrison – Australian adventurer; correspondent for The Times Peking (Beijing)[14]
• Guy Pearce – actor[15]
• Sean Sowerby – journalist
• Nathan Templeton – journalist

Medicine and science

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

Politics, public service and the law

• Barry James Maddern AC (1937 – January 1994), Australian barrister and jurist
• Lionel Aingimea – president of Nauru since 2019[16]
• The 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)
• The Hon Robert Doyle – Lord Mayor of Melbourne, politician; Member for Malvern in the Legislative Assembly (1992–2006); Leader of the Victorian Opposition (2002–2006)[17]
• David Epstein – former chief of staff for Kevin Rudd (Australian prime minister, 2007–10, 2013)[18]
• Major General Sir James Harrison – former Governor of South Australia
• Sarah Henderson MP – Federal Member for Corangamite (Liberal Party) since 2013
• 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[19]
• Sir William Gilbert Stewart McArthur – Supreme Court Judge[20]
• James Nimmo CBE – public servant[21]

Religion

• Thomas Henry Armstrong – first Bishop of Wangaratta[22]

Sport

• Jaxson Barham –current AFL footballer for the Collingwood Magpies
• Tim Callan – former AFL footballer for the Western Bulldogs
• David A. Clarke – former AFL footballer for the Geelong and Carlton Football Clubs.
• David E. Clarke – former AFL footballer for the Geelong and Carlton Football Clubs.
• Georgie Clarke – Olympian (Athletics)
• Tim Clarke – former AFL footballer for the Hawthorn Hawks
• Richard Colman, Paralympic athletics gold medallist
• Ayce Cordy – former AFL footballer for the Western Bulldogs
• Zaine Cordy – current AFL footballer for the Western Bulldogs, premiership player in the 2016 AFL Grand Final
• Ed Curnow – current AFL footballer for Carlton FC
• Charlie Curnow – current AFL footballer for Carlton FC
• Josh Dunkley-Smith – 2012 Olympic rowing silver medallist
• 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
• John "Jack" Bailey Hawkes – Australian tennis champion
• Lachlan Henderson – current AFL footballer for Geelong Football Club
• Steve Horvat – former Australian International football player
• Jack Iverson – Australian Test cricketer
• Bowen Lockwood– former AFL footballer for the Port Power
• John Neil McArthur – horse racing identity[23]
• Edward Russell Mockridge – Olympic cyclist[24]
• David Ramage, two time Olympian rower
• Ian Redpath – Australian Test cricketer
• Josh Saunders – current AFL footballer for St Kilda
• 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
• Alec Boswell Timms – VFA footballer for Geelong and Scottish rugby international from 1896 to 1905

• List of schools in Victoria
• List of boarding schools

• Notman, G.C. & Keith, B.R. 1961. The Geelong College 1861–1961. The 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 0-86828-009-7.
• Penrose, Helen. 2011. The Way to the Stars: 150 Years of The Geelong College. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne. ISBN 978-1-921875-10-6.

• Official website
• Heritage Guide to The Geelong College

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