The histories of Newington and of Tupou College, our brother school in Tonga, would have been very different but for the quick action of two boys.

One Thursday in October 1863, the 22 year old James Egan Moulton, Newington’s first ‘Head Master’, took a group of boys for a swim at Haslams Creek, some distance from Newington House. While all the boys could swim well, Moulton could swim only ‘very indifferently’. As soon as he entered the water he sank to the bottom. Immediately, two boys, Robert McKeown, aged 16, and Andrew Houison, 13, plunged in and ‘with the greatest difficulty and after severe struggling saved his life.’

We know about this incident from a letter written a few days later by the College’s founding President, Rev John Allen Manton, to Robert McKeown’s father. Manton’s copy of the letter is in the College Archives. He wrote to Robert’s father ‘Fearing that you should hear a garbled account of what has taken place here and become alarmed for the safety of your son.’

Manton was quick to reassure Mr McKeown that, while the party ‘all came home in a very exhausted state’, they were recovering rapidly. He was clearly proud of the two boys: ‘The heroic conduct of your son is beyond all praise, and the event will not soon be forgotten here.’ He added that ‘Mr Moulton is so beloved by all the boys that I believe there is not one but would risk his life to save him from danger.’

Moulton remained at Newington until early in 1865, when he sailed to Tonga to resume his missionary calling. The next year, he established Tupou College, under the patronage of King Siaosi (George) Tupou I. He continued to work there for 20 years and was associated with Tonga for more than 40 years, becoming a beloved and revered figure. In 1893, he returned to Newington as President, serving in this role until he retired in 1900.

Mr David Roberts
College Archivist