As the date for the opening of the Wesleyan Collegiate Institution in July 1863 neared, Rev. John Allen Manton became increasingly concerned. The two Masters he had sought from England had not arrived and there was no information as to when they would.

On 31 May 1863, however, a young probationary Minister of the Wesleyan Church, Rev James Egan Moulton, arrived in Sydney from England on board the clipper Merrie England, on his way to mission work in Fiji. He now learned that he could not proceed to Fiji: mission rules forbade single men from serving in the South Seas missions, due to the temptations that might arise. Moulton was engaged, but his fiancée was still in England. Manton quickly sought his services and he found himself acting as ‘Head Master’, organising for the start of classes once the College opened.

Manton wrote to his daughter Emma: ‘I cannot help feeling the deepest thankfulness to God for His goodness in raising up a Master for the school just at the last hour… just as I was at my wit’s end, Mr Moulton has come into the Colony and not being able proceed to Fiji at present, has come to my aid and suits well.’

Moulton would stay at the new school until early 1865. When he finally resumed his missionary work, it was not to Fiji, but to Tonga, that he sailed. There, he founded our brother school, Tupou College, the following year and started our College’s long association with Tonga.