From the Archives

A hundred and fifty years ago this month, a crucial step towards the establishment of Newington College was taken.

In August 1862 the Education Committee of the Wesleyan Methodist Church held its quarterly meeting in the Centenary Chapel in York Street, Sydney (pictured). The Committee already had significant responsibilities; they oversaw not only the Church’s Sunday Schools but also a network of Day Schools providing rudimentary primary education to boys and girls in and around Sydney under the Denominational Schools system.

At this meeting, however, the Committee considered a detailed proposal from the Reverend John Allen Manton for the establishment of a “Collegiate Institution” to provide a higher level of education for boys and young men, embracing “…all the branches of a sound commercial, classical and mathematical education”.

Manton’s proposal was not entirely new to the Committee members. He had outlined it in December 1861 and, consequently, the Committee had circularised the Methodist circuit superintendents to seek donations and information about how many boys would probably become pupils. The Sydney District Meeting had supported the scheme and Manton had investigated possible sites for the new school, with a dilapidated mansion at Silverwater emerging as the favoured option.

A positive reception to the proposal in August 1862 was helped by the fact that key members of the Committee, such as its Chairman, the Reverend Stephen Rabone, were already strong supporters of the concept. The Committee approved Manton’s proposal, with the result that it would go forward to the Church’s Australasian Conference, which was to be held in January 1863.

David Roberts
College Archivist