Nelson College

Nelson College is the oldest state secular secondary school in New Zealand founded on April 7, 1856 in Nelson, New Zealand. It is a mixed day and boarding school for boys aged 13 (Form III/Year 9) to 18 (Form VII/Year 13), and also runs a small Preparatory Department for Forms I and II (Years 7/8). Nelson College currently educates just over 1100 boys.

Famous Old Nelsonians

• Leonard Henry Trent (Victoria Cross)
• Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (Nobel Prize, Chemistry)
• Sir Wallace (Bill) Rowling (Prime Minister of New Zealand)
• Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Prime Minister)
• Don McKinnon (Deputy Prime Minister, now Commonwealth Secretary-General)
• Rex Sellers (Olympic gold medal--Tornado yachting class, 1984)
• Andrew Livingston (Professor of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London)
• Sean Plunket (Presenter on Radio New Zealand's flagship news programme Morning Report)
• Tex Morton (Robert William Lane) (Country music legend)
• Basil Collyns {fighter pilot ace in WWII}
• James Chilton Francis Hayter {fighter pilot ace in WWII}
• Frederick Augustus Bennett {First Bishop of Aotearoa}
• Peter Simpson {Head of English, University of Auckland}