Stop 1
The land in Hackney where the School now stands was purchased by Bishop Short on 27 January 1848. The following year, construction on the Main Building, which later became known as Old School House, began with Captain Allen’s benefaction of £2000 in January 1849. The first drawings for a design were by Brabazon Forsyth, which were in the Romano-Italian Style. This design was rejected in favour of Henry Stuckey’s plans in Tudor Gothic, which resulted in the design that stands today.By 1857 Old School House had been equipped and was ready to accommodate the Headmaster and his family, masters, matron, servants, and forty or fifty boarders. Additions were made in 1870 with the north and south wings extended, and again in 1897, the north wing was continued over the archway joining it to the previously built Big School Room.The functions of the building and its spaces changed over time. By 1935, Old School House became mainly an administrative centre as a byproduct of the 1935 building scheme, though some rooms continued to be used as classrooms. The current Staff Common Room at different times had been used as the Chapel, the boarders’ dining-room, and a classroom. The southern wing floors were used as the Headmaster’s drawing room, several classrooms as well as a master’s study and conference room. The North Wing was converted into a Music Centre until the redevelopment of the music program at the School saw a shift of the Centre to a refurbished Hill Wing in 2018. For many years, the main corridor or breezeway, contained notices about a range of school activities, for example sporting results and team selections, which would generate excitement and an area for socialising. However, in an era of IT, most of this information is now relayed to boys electronically.Generations of St Peter’s College boys have been intrigued and amused by the stone carvings of faces around the top of the clock tower, and around the doors and windows of the face of the building. Some are recognisable as benefactors and founders of the School but also the stone carver’s fiancées dog, who accompanied Alexander Wood on the construction site quite regularly.Today Old School House continues to be an administrative centre, the home of the Headmaster’s office, the Staff Common room and offices, and a few operating classrooms.
Stop 2
A steady stream of enrolments was making Trinity School Room on North Terrace badly overcrowded. Moreover, it lacked a proper playground and lay in a part of the town which Bishop Short described as “not the most eligible for the moral tone of young boys”. It was decided that the construction of a new school room at Hackney, which would later be called ‘Big School Room’, should begin immediately, even if it meant a delay in completing the main building. Following the tradition of English public schools, the Council decided that their new school room would be one large room in which many boys, divided into several forms, could be taught simultaneously.In September 1849 the School’s architect, Henry Stuckey, designed a room to accommodate 120 students measuring 60 by 30 feet and with 20-foot walls. The walls were to be of calcrete raised on the School grounds, well grouted with quick lime and sharp sand from the Torrens. The window and door surrounds were to be of local brick, the roof of wooden shingles, and the floor of red gum boards cut from the School’s own trees (these later succumbed to termites in the 1980s). Stuckey also ensured that the east and west doors exactly aligned with the east and west doors of the Main Building, so that if all doors were opened it was possible to look right through both buildings.The building was opened on 23 January 1850 after a building period of about three months. The original honour boards for scholarships and prizes can still be seen on the northern interior wall.In 1938, it was decided to establish a library in Big School Room. Mrs Stow gave a total of £1,500 (and many books) for the setting up of a library, and the furnishing of a debating theatre, in memory of her husband Percival Stow, who was an eminent lawyer and an old scholar.The building is a spacious venue, used frequently for meetings, public speaking, debates, music and choir rehearsals, examinations, and functions. More recently, Big School Room has been reinstated to its original purpose as a classroom with glass bi-fold doors providing a modern learning space whilst providing the option for opening the space up for public events. As a homage to the past, Big School Room, believed to be the oldest classroom still in use in Australia today, is also used for rotating displays to showcase aspects of the School’s rich history.
Stop 3
The site of Big Quad was at first occupied by a well and pump, supplying drinking water to the School. Big Quad is found on the western side by Big School Room which opened in 1850, and classrooms on its southern and eastern sides built in the early 1900s. In 1878 a gymnasium was built (later converted to a dining hall) forming the northern end of the Quad. The Memorial Arch and the War Memorial Cloisters, erected in memory of those who died in the Boer War and the World Wars, were constructed in 1957. The Eastern Cloister was erected in 1986 as a result of donations from old scholars and a most generous benefaction from Geoffrey Angas Parsons.Big Quad as we see it today was a result of the 2022 redevelopment as part of the 175 year celebrations. The redevelopment enabled the area to be more accessible. Prior to redevelopment, Big Quad had changed little since the work that was done on it during the 1935 building scheme.Jury Memorial FountainThe Jury Memorial Fountain at the centre of Big Quad is a five-sided structure made of stone from Bundey's old quarry in Tea Tree Gully. The basin of the fountain is carved from the same stone and rests on a base of granite. Mr and Mrs Jury carried out the wish of their son, the late Second Lieutenant George Rischbieth Jury to erect a memorial to honour the Headmastership of Canon Henry Girdlestone who retired in 1915. After much consulting, the Council of Governors decided to erect a stone fountain in Big Quad and was thus named the Jury Memorial Fountain.George Jury attended St Peter's College from 1909-1912 and was studying at Oxford University in England when he and his brother Charles enlisted for war. Jury gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant and joined the 7th Battalion. He fought at Vimy in May 1916 but was killed in action in September the same year at High Wood while occupying the Seaforth Trench in the front line.
Stop 4
It is often said that the Chapel is at the heart of the School – though this can be debated as a matter of perspective. Where one spends most of their time, for example the library, classrooms, or sporting fields, could be dubbed the centre of the School, or even Old School House due to its central location. However, the late Reverand Ald Stringer (School Chaplain 1970s and 1980s) is quoted as saying that the Chapel being the heart of the School is a metaphor, ‘meant to imply that from it flows the life and energy which gives meaning to all other functions of the body of the School.’The original School Chapel was on the ground floor to the left of the entrance of Old School House. In 1859 the Council of Governors approved plans drafted by the Architect Edward Hamilton for a separate chapel building to seat 250 to be built. The foundation stone was laid two years later on 19 December 1861.Work progressed slowly, and at last the nave was opened for worship on 24 July 1864. The building was lit with kerosene lamps suspended by brass chains from the iconic dark blue ceiling which was adorned with small gold stars. In 1873, the chancel, sanctuary, fleche, and organ chamber were added under the direction of the new School architect, Mr Edward Woods. The Chapel was extensively renovated in 1912 when Reverend Henry Girdlestone was Headmaster. The floor level of the nave was lowered, the seat arrangement changed, and the vestry extended which doubled its size.Stained-glass windows adorn the building and commemorate the School’s founders, benefactors, and significant pupils. Others have been placed in remembrance of parishioners’ families, or to express their gratitude to God. The window dedicated to James Farrell and installed in 1870 is described in the Register:“The ornamentation is rich and elaborate, and the combination of colours – the purple and scarlet, blue and gold, ruby, green, maroon, yellow, amber, etc, has a gorgeous appearance when seen in the sunlight […] The effect of the whole is to produce that chaste and ‘dim religious light’ which exerts upon the minds of many persons a very powerful influence…”
Stop 5
On Speech Day 1919 the Headmaster announced that “the Council had decided to erect a noble Memorial Hall – to be a lasting tribute to the men who were their School's pride”. The plan to build a Memorial Hall in memory of the part taken by the old scholars of the School was first discussed before the end of the war, by the Building Committee. The architect chosen was Alfred Wells and the foundation stone was laid at the south-west corner of the building in 1921 by Governor Sir Archibald Weigall.The construction of the building took much longer than anticipated. The reasons for the delay were various and included issues with contractors, lack of funding at various stages, and design difficulties.Memorial Hall was eventually opened on the 22 September 1929, in the presence of the Council of Governors, the next of kin of old scholars who had lost their lives, returned old scholars, distinguished visitors and subscribers. Headmaster Reverend Julian Bickersteth crafted the following dedication for the honour boards inside the Hall:“These are the names of the sons of this School who at the call of King and Country left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, and faced dangers in many lands during the Great War 1914 – 1919. These men strove to uphold the honour of the British Empire throughout the world and helped to establish a name for Australia that will last as long as the deeds of brave men are recorded in the history of mankind”.On 2 December 1985, the School community suffered a great loss. The much-loved and much-used building caught fire in the early hours of the morning, most likely due to an electrical fault. The Council of Governors took the opportunity to rebuild the hall, modernising the interior with acoustic technology and stage design whilst maintaining the original exterior.All those who served in the Boer War, World Wars I and II, and post-WWII military operations are remembered on the various wooden honour boards lining the walls of the main hall and the foyer as an acknowledgement of their service and sacrifice.
