Prince Alfred College

Prince Alfred College is a boys school on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia near the Adelaide CBD. Established in 1869, it was originally established by the Methodist Church and is now affiliated with the Uniting Church in Australia.

Related Topics:
Kent Town, South Australia - Adelaide - CBD - 1869 - Methodist Church - Uniting Church in Australia

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The school has approximately 1000 students, aged from 5-18 years old. The school also recently opened "Little Princes", a kindergarten for younger children.

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Prince Alfred College has a proud tradition of producing "Princes Men".

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Prince Alfred College was named after a royal prince - one of the four sons of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. The naming took place during the lengthy period of Queen Victoria?s seclusion after the death of the Prince Consort in 1861. The last three decades of the 19th century were the zenith of the Victorian age and the Queen?s sons were indulged when they travelled to the remotest parts of a very rich Empire. The optimism, ideals and models of this era were embodied and represented in the school - a period when the reach and power of the British Empire was absolute, even to the distant colonies. The naming of the College after Prince Alfred ? in effect an imperial imprimatur ? was seen as a glorious, honourable and appropriate connection for that age. However, in some ways it was remarkable, given that, at the time the Queen was rarely seen by her subjects, least of all by those in the Australian colonies. The close association with the sovereign, which continued until 1901 was significant for the first three decades of the history of PAC.

Related Topics:
Queen Victoria - Prince Albert - Prince Alfred

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The founders of PAC were determined that the religious traditions of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, should be incorporated in the school. Wesley, a Church of England priest who took the unusual step of preaching in the open and to the poor, often faced the anger of other Christian believers. Methodism took Britain by storm in the eighteenth century and became a strong religious force in America during the later part of that century and later in the Australian colonies, particularly South Australia, in the nineteenth century. Young Methodist men of the colony and PAC were encouraged to live disciplined, hard working and Christian lives, even if they were mocked or faced society?s temptations.

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By the year that PAC was founded (1869), the proportion of population in Adelaide was estimated to be the second highest in the continent. No South Australian country town however had a population greater than 10,000. At the same time, nearly all the land in the city of Adelaide, laid out by Colonel Light, had been occupied. Across the parklands that surrounded the city were well established residential suburbs such as Kent Town and Norwood to the east and industrial precincts such as Hindmarsh and Thebarton to the west. The suburb of Kent Town, along with the city itself, formed a consolidated urban area in which the school was located.

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During its history, Prince Alfred College has been led by some of Australia?s most outstanding educators as Headmasters:

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1869 to 1870 : Mr Samuel Fiddian

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1871 to 1875 : Mr John Hartley

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1876 to 1914 : Mr Frederic Chapple

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1915 to 1929 : Mr William Bayly

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1930 to 1948 : Mr Fred Ward

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1949 to 1969 : Mr John Dunning

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1970 to 1987 : Mr Geoffrey Bean

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1988 to 1999 : Dr Brian Webber

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2000 to 2004 : Dr Stephen Codrington http://homepage.mac.com/scodrington

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2004 to present: Mr Kevin Tutt http://www.pac.edu.au/public/content/default.asp?xcid=795

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Recent events

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During the 2005 Easter period, Prince Alfred College was in the news, when a group of its students were involved in a brawl with bitter cross-town rivals, St Peter's College, at the Oakbank Horseracing festival.http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16101896%255E2682,00.html

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In September 2005 it was revealed that the College held $18.2 million in shares in a brewing company at the same time as it was appealing to parents and former students for funds to enable a $15 million redevelopment project to begin. http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16755050%255E2682,00.html

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