Wellington College, Wellington Explained
| Wellington College |
| Seal Image: | Wellington_College,_New_Zealand_-_Current_coat_of_arms.png |
| Motto: | , |
| Motto Translation: | Receive The Light And Pass It On |
| Former Names: | Wellington Grammar School |
| Type: | State Secondary |
| Gender: | Boys |
| Established: | 1867; years ago |
| Postcode: | 6021 |
| Coordinates: | -41.3036°N 174.7825°W |
| Roll: | |
| Colors: | Black and Gold
|
| Decile: | 10Z[1] |
| Publication: | The Wellingtonian |
| Moe: | 275 |
| Grades Label: | Years |
Wellington College, is a state-run boys secondary school in Wellington, New Zealand. It is situated on 12 hectares of green belt land in the suburb of Mount Victoria, in the vicinity of the Basin Reserve and Government House. The school was founded in 1867 through a deed of endowment from Sir George Grey, the then Governor of New Zealand.
Wellington College is one of the oldest boys' secondary schools in New Zealand. The history and influence of Wellington College have made it notable in the history of New Zealand, with prominent alumni such as Arthur Coningham, Bernard Freyberg and William Pickering. The school is known nationally for both its academic success, as well as a large number of sporting activities.
The school has an enrolment of about 1750 boys. Glen Denham is the current Headmaster.[2]
History
Wellington College opened in 1867 as Wellington Grammar School in Woodward Street, though Sir George Grey gave the school a deed of endowment in 1853. In 1869 the school moved to a new, spired, wooden building on the hills above the central city in Clifton Terrace from where it could be seen from many places in Wellington.[3] In 1874 the college opened in a much larger building at its present location.[4] The former boarding establishment at the College, Firth House, was named after Joseph Firth, the headmaster from 1892 to 1921.
Wellington College's Pavilion, Firth House, and the Gifford Observatory were opened on 1 December, 1924. The War Memorial Hall was opened on 2 March, 1928, financially supported by £6000 from the Old Boys' Association.[5] The War Memorial Hall and classroom wings were demolished by the Ministry of Works and replaced in the 1960s with a new hall and seven-storey Tower classroom block due to its lack of earthquake reinforcements. The stained glass window from the front of the War Memorial Hall is now in the front of the existing hall.
In the 1960s the Old Boys Gymnasium was built on the eastern boundary of the campus replacing the swimming pool and during the 1970s the Maths, Library, and Technology blocks were opened, replacing the last of the War Memorial Hall building and classroom wings that opened in 1928.
In 1980 Firth House was demolished to make way for a new gymnasium which opened in 1982. 1988 saw the opening of the Arts and Music block, and the Brierley Theatre, named after old boy Ron Brierley.
The first dedicated computer rooms in the College opened in 1994 in a new building behind the school hall.
2001 saw the Science block's opening on the western boundary of the campus. In 2008 the Languages block opened, also located on the west boundary.
The campus also has many prefabricated buildings, some functioning as offices or classrooms.
The only "historical" buildings remaining on campus to this day are Firth Hall, the Pavilion, and the Gifford Observatory.
In 2016, the College Hall was demolished to make way for a larger Assembly Hall and Performing Arts Centre, which would be able to hold the entire school with its growing population. In preparation for this, the staffroom was moved to Firth Hall, the Uniform Shop opened a new premise next to the Archives, and the Computer Block was opened on the first floor of Tower Block. Construction on the new hall commenced in September 2016 and was opened in 2018 by Jacinda Ardern.[6]
About
Wellington College's enrolment zone mainly covers the central and western suburbs of Wellington (Rongotai College serves the southeastern suburbs, and Onslow College the northern suburbs).The school also competes in a local athletics competition known as "McEvedy Shield" along with St. Patrick's College (Town), St. Patrick's College (Silverstream) and Rongotai College. Historically, Wellington College has won the shield more than any other school.[7]
It is next to Wellington East Girls' College, also in Mount Victoria, and shares with that college the Gifford Observatory. Although Wellington College is situated next to Wellington East Girls' College, its sister college is Wellington Girls' College located in Thorndon.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013, Wellington College earned the highest number of scholarships in the New Zealand scholarship exams.[8]
Board of trustees
The Wellington College Board of Trustees consists of twelve elected and appointed members.[9]
Currently the Board Chair is Cameron Harland,[10] who is also the Chief Executive at NZ On Air
Notable alumni
The Arts
- John Beaglehole – historian
- Colin Beyer – lawyer and businessman
- Roy Cowan – potter, illustrator, and printmaker
- Maxwell Fernie – organist, conductor and music teacher
- Alexander Grant – ballet dancer, teacher, and company director
- W. Gray Young – architect
- Jonathan Harlen – author
- Dai Henwood – comedian
- Raybon Kan – writer and comedian
- John Mulgan – editor, writer, journalist and Army officer
- Clive Matthew-Wilson – writer
- David Mitchell – poet
- Don Peebles – artist
- Robert J. Pope – songwriter, poet, cricketer
- Jack Shallcrass – author, educator, and humanist
- Burton Silver – cartoonist, parodist, and writer
- Charles Treadwell – lawyer, soldier, author and politician
- Karl Urban – actor
- Clement Gordon Watson – editor, journalist, soldier, communist activist
- Kenneth Athol Webster – collector and dealer of manuscripts, fine art, and ethnographic artifacts associated with Oceanic peoples.
Broadcasting & journalism
Business
Public service
- Henry Avery – New Zealand's Quartermaster General during World War Two and former All Black[11]
- Grafton Francis Bothamley – Clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives
- George T. Bolt – public servant, served as chairman of the Public Service Commission
- Alfred Brandon (mayor) – Mayor of Wellington
- Alfred Brandon (RAF officer) – lawyer and military aviator who served in the First World War
- Edmund Percy Bunny – Mayor of Lower Hutt
- John Gibbs Churchill – trade unionist and local politician
- Arthur Coningham – World War II commander and World War I Air Ace. Portrayed in the film Patton
- Ken Douglas – trade union leader and politician
- James Lloyd Findlay – soldier and air force officer who served in both World Wars.
- Bernard Freyberg – Governor-General, World War I VC Winner and World War II commander
- Les Gandar – politician of the National Party.
- William Gaudin – politician
- Thomas Gault – Justice of the Supreme Court of New Zealand
- William Gentry – World War II commander
- Thomas Goddard – jurist
- Lord Grey of Naunton – last Governor of Northern Ireland[12]
- Hamish Hancock – former National Party MP for Horowhenua and a lawyer
- Thomas Hislop – Mayor of Wellington from 1931 to 1945
- Don Hunn CNZM – senior New Zealand diplomat, civil servant, and State Services Commissioner
- Thomas Jordan – was the mayor of Masterton from 1925 to 1944, and was a teacher and then lawyer.
- John Larkindale – former New Zealand public servant and diplomat
- Ngātata Love – academic and Treaty negotiator
- John Levy MacDuff – lawyer and magistrate
- Aussie Malcolm – former National Party politician
- Peter Malone – veterinary surgeon and politician
- Rex Mason – politician
- Colin McLeod – civil engineer, who served as the Commissioner of Works between 1973 and 1981.
- Frank Moore – political activist
- Norman Harold Moss – Mayor of Stratford, New Zealand from 1947 to 1957.
- Michael Myers – judge
- Humphrey O'Leary – Chief Justice of New Zealand, from 1946 to 1953.
- Matthew Oram – lawyer, politician, Speaker of Parliament
- Graham Beresford Parkinson – World War II commander
- Paul Reeves – former Governor-General of New Zealand
- Adrian G. Rodda – senior civil servant and Chairman of the State Services Commission
- Eric Roussell – Clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives
- Rino Tirikatene – Labour Party politician and a former MP
- Alastair Scott – politician
- Tom Seddon – politician of the Liberal Party, and a lawyer in Greymouth
- Charles Skerrett – fifth Chief Justice of New Zealand, from 1926 to 1929
- Ron Smith – public servant, communist and peace activist
- Duncan Stout – medic, soldier and author
- William Ball Sutch – New Zealand public servant, put on trial for espionage
- Geoff Thompson – former New Zealand politician of the National Party.
- Ray Wallace – Mayor of Lower Hutt from 2010 to 2019 [13]
- Thomas Wilford – politician
- Hugh Williams – former president of the New Zealand Electoral Commission and a retired judge of the High Court of New Zealand. From 2016 to 2022 he was Chief Justice of the Cook Islands.
- Bill Young – politician representing the National Party
Science
- George Leslie Adkin – farmer, geologist, ethnologist, photographer, and environmentalist.
- Ian Foster – computer scientist
- Murray Hill – seed technologist
- Diamond Jenness – anthropologist in Canada
- William Pickering – former Head of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (space scientist)
- Philip Robertson – chemist, university professor and writer
- John Salmon – photographer, entomologist, academic, conservationist, and author.
- Jonathan Sarfati – creationist, scientist, and New Zealand Chess Champion
Sport
Headmasters
| Period | Headmaster |
|---|
| 1867 | Henry Tuckey and William Hamilton |
| 1869–1874 | Thomas Bowden |
| 1874–1881 | Kenneth Wilson |
| 1881–1892 | Joseph Mackay |
| 1892–1921 | |
| 1921–1928 | Thomas Cresswell |
| 1928–1943 | William Armour |
| 1943–1951 | Edward Hogben |
| 1951–1963 | Harold Heron |
| 1963–1979 | Seddon Hill |
| 1979–1995 | Harvey Rees-Thomas |
| 1995–2018 | Roger Moses, CNZM[14] |
| 2018–2021 | Gregor Fountain[15] |
| 2022– | Glen Denham[16] |
|
Coat of arms
| Wellington College |
| Crest: | A Wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest a pedestal ornamented in the style of Sheraton Argent supporting a hand lamp as in the Arms |
| Helm: | A sallet Proper lined Gules, with a Mantling Sable doubled Or |
| Escutcheon: | Or, an open book Proper, binding and fore-edges Gules, ensigned by a covered hand lamp burning proper, pendent from the sinister side of the book a bookmark Gules charged with five plates in saltire, on a chief Sable four mullets of the Field. |
| Motto: | (Receive The Light And Pass It On) |
| Symbolism: | The coat of arms of Wellington College is based on that of Bernard Freyberg, charged with an oil lamp, used on the seal of the college since 1873,[17] and a book, representing knowledge. The five plates on the bookmark come from the coat of arms of the Duke of Wellington. The sallet is a type of helmet usually granted to corporate bodies in Scottish heraldry.[18] |
| Year Granted: | On 7 October 1987 by the Lord Lyon King of Arms.[19] The cost of the grant was donated by K. Rees-Thomas, an old boy of the college and father of headmaster H. G. Rees-Thomas |
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools . Ministry of Education . 12 February 2015.
- News: 'Everyone has a place here': Aroha in education vital, new college principal says . 7 May 2022 . . 7 May 2022 . en.
- William Main, Wellington Through a Victorian lens revisited, Steele Roberts Publishers, Wellington, 2011, p. 25, the endpapers and the dustjacket.
- Book: Beasley, A.W.. The Light Accepted : 125 Years of Wellington College. 1992. Wellington. Board of Trustees of Wellington College. 1869340329. 19.
- http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WarEarl-t1-body-d21-d6-d2.html Wellington College. | NZETC
- Web site: The allan Gibbs Centre. The Lampstand. 2018. Wellington College Old Boys' Association. 5–19. 1023414230.
- Web site: History of the McEvedy Shield . Wellington College . https://web.archive.org/web/20170707044404/http://www.wellington-college.school.nz/node/273/sports/mcevedy-shield/history-of-the-mcevedy-shield . 7 July 2017.
- News: Wgtn College's stunning results . 5 August 2021 . . 27 February 2013 . en.
- Web site: Board of Trustees . Wellington College . 5 August 2021.
- Web site: digitaljourney . Our Board . 2024-01-04 . Wellington College . en-NZ.
- Web site: Henry Avery #170 . . 20 December 2020.
- News: Lord Grey, 89, Queen's Last Governor in Ulster (Published 1999) . 14 February 2021 . . 23 October 1999.
- Web site: Ray Wallace . . 13 October 2013.
- Web site: Dooney . Laura . 2017-07-25 . Wellington College headmaster Roger Moses to retire next year . 2022-06-01 . Stuff . en.
- Web site: O'Dwyer . Ellen . 2021-11-01 . Wellington College principal Gregor Fountain resigns . 2022-06-01 . Stuff . en.
- Web site: O'Dwyer . Ellen . 2022-02-22 . Basketball great and celebrated principal appointed as new Wellington College headmaster . 2022-06-01 . Stuff . en.
- Web site: What's in a motto. The Lampstand. 2021. Wellington College Old Boys' Association. 12. 1023414230.
- Book: Beasley, A. W.. Address to the Assembly 15 October 1987. The Wellingtonian. 1987. Wellington College. 30–31. 173344072.
- Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. Vol. 69. p. 72.
