Scotch College 

is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located

in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The college was established in 1851 as The Melbourne Academy in a house in Spring Street,
Melbourne, by James Forbes of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria.[4] It is the oldest extant
secondary school in Victoria[2][5] and celebrated its sesquicentenary in 2001.
Scotch is a founding member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS),[6] and is affiliated
with the International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC),[7] the Junior School Heads Association of
Australia (JSHAA),[8] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),[5] the Association of
Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV),[3] and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
[9]
 The School is a member of the Global Alliance of Leading-Edge Schools.

Contents

 1History
 2Name
 3Coat-of-arms and motto
 4Principals
 5Governance and denominational affiliation
 6Campuses
 7Boarding
 8Curriculum
 9Extra-curricular activities
 10Sport
o 10.1APS Premierships
 11Alumni
 12Images of Hawthorn campus
 13See also
 14References
 15Further reading
 16External links

History[edit]

The School at its former East Melbourne site (circa 1906) prior to moving to the current site at Hawthorn

Scotch College is the oldest surviving secondary school in Victoria. Its foundation was due to the
initiative of James Forbes, of the Free Presbyterian Church, who arrived in 1838 as the first settled
Christian minister in what became the colony of Victoria in 1851. It is "the outcome of the old
Scottish ideal of education", in which church and school were inextricably connected. The school
opened on 6 October 1851, under the name of the Melbourne Academy in a small house in Spring
Street, with Robert Lawson, a Scot from Edinburgh University, as the first principal. The house was
soon outgrown, as was a larger one on the northwest corner of Spring and Little Collins Streets (later
the Ulster Family Hotel) and the Church applied to the government for a grant of land. Two acres
were reserved for the school on Eastern Hill and substantial new buildings were erected there in
1853. The cost was met partly by a government grant and partly from funds raised by the friends of
the school.
Lawson resigned in 1856. Under his successor, Alexander Morrison, the school grew and prospered;
it came under the oversight of the newly formed Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1859. Morrison
had been Rector of Hamilton Academy and remained at Scotch for 46 years, during almost all of
which time his brother Robert was a master of the college.[10]:2 William Still Littlejohn, who took over
the school in 1904, served for 29 years, and his successor, Colin Macdonald Gilray, for 19. So, when
the school became the first in Victoria to celebrate its centenary, Gilray was only the fourth principal.
Gilray was succeeded in 1953 by R. Selby Smith, an Old Rugbeian who had served in the Royal
Navy during the war and was at the time of his appointment Deputy Director of Education
for Warwickshire. Smith resigned in 1964 to become the Foundation Dean of Education at Monash
University.
C. O. Healey, who had been Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School since 1951, succeeded Smith.
Healey retired in January 1975.
In the following May, P. A. V. Roff, formerly Headmaster of Scotch College, Adelaide, was installed
as the seventh principal of the college. Roff's tenure, though a brief seven years, was characterised
by an expanding voice for staff in the day-to-day management of the school, the establishment of a
Foundation Office at the School under the direction of a Development Officer and the widening of the
House System to provide greater depth in pastoral care. His last few years saw the school in dispute
over ownership and, for the principal and his school community, it was a time of stress. In 1980 the
decision was made to incorporate the school and a new Council was appointed, with representatives
from the Presbyterian Church, the Old Scotch Collegians' Association and the community at large.
F. G. Donaldson, a vice principal from Wallace High School (Northern Ireland), with a PhD in atomic
physics from Queens University Belfast, succeeded Roff in 1983. Under his principalship there was
a significant building program that created new facilities for the education of boys, the development
of ICT for administrative and educational purposes, and enhanced pastoral care of students.
I. Tom Batty was appointed as the ninth principal of Scotch and installed into office on 14 July 2008.
Prior to his appointment he was Housemaster of Villiers House, Eton College in the UK. The early
years of Batty's tenure have seen the introduction of a new House-based pastoral care structure in
the Upper School, which began at the start of the 2011 school year.

Name[edit]

The name "Scotch College" appears at the entrance to the boarding precinct (2009)

The School was originally called "The Melbourne Academy", after its location, when it opened in
1851. In its early years it was also known as
  Mr Lawson's Academy - named after the first principal, Robert Lawson
 The Grammar School
 The Scots' College - the college of the Scots
 The Scotch College - the college that is Scottish
For a while all of these names were used concurrently until in the 1860s the usage settled on "The
Scotch College", which was later shortened to be simply "Scotch College".[11]

Coat-of-arms and motto[edit]

The Monash Gates feature the school's coat of arms (right side) and the symbol of the Presbyterian Church
(left side)

The School's coat-of-arms (shown above, right) features the following elements:[12]

 The Burning Bush - the Burning Bush, from the Book of Exodus, is a common symbol
used by the Presbyterian Church, representing Christian faith.
 A white saltire on a blue background - the flag of Scotland (St Andrew's Cross)
representing the School's Scottish heritage.
 The Southern Cross - the Southern Cross constellation is a common symbol
for Australia, representing the School's location and home.
 A crown - representing loyalty to the sovereign and legitimate government.
 A lymphad or birlin - a Scottish heraldic ship with oars in use, thus rowing into the wind,
and representing enterprise and perseverance.
 A torch - representing the torch of knowledge and learning.
The motto of the School, shown in Scottish heraldic style in a scroll above the coat-of-arms, is
Latin: "Deo Patriae Litteris". Its meaning in English is "For God, For Country, For Learning".[12]

Principals[edit]
The Quadrangle (1975)

F. G. Donaldson AM retired as principal at the conclusion of 2007, having served 25 years, and was
succeeded by I. T. Batty who commenced his term in 2008. Batty is only the ninth principal in the
school's history.[13]

Period Details

1851 – 1856 Robert Lawson[4]

1857 – 1903 Alexander Morrison[14]

1904 – 1933 William Still Littlejohn[15]

1934 – 1953 Colin Macdonald Gilray OBE MC[16]

1953 – 1964 Richard Selby Smith OBE

1965 – 1974 Colin Oswald Healey OBE TD

1975 – 1981 Philip Anthony Vere Roff

 1983 – 2007 Francis Gordon Donaldson AM

2008 –
Ian Thomas Batty
present

Governance and denominational affiliation[edit]

Littlejohn Memorial Chapel (2009)

Scotch is an incorporated body governed by a Council of seventeen members - who are directors -
made up of three groups; Five Presbyterian Church of Victoria nominees (Group A), Five persons
(usually Old Boys) nominated by the Old Scotch Collegians' Association (Group B), and seven
persons nominated by Council from the community at large (Group C), usually with some connection
with the School and the Christian church. All appointments are made annually by the Presbyterian
Church from the first of December every year.[17]
Chairmen of the Council have included Sir Arthur Robinson, Sir Archibald Glenn, Sir James
Balderstone, David Crawford AO and David A. Kemp AC.
In 1977, most congregations of the Australian Presbyterian Church left the church and joined with
the Methodist and Congregationalist churches in Australia to form the Uniting Church in Australia.
The Presbyterian Church of Australia continued with the remaining congregations. In the split,
Scotch College, Melbourne was allocated to the Presbyterian Church of Australia by the Handley
Commission which was appointed to distribute the assets of the churches, which included an even
number of representatives from the Uniting Church and the continuing Presbyterian Church as well
as independent commissioners. At the time the Scotch Council unsuccessfully appealed this
decision.[18]

Campuses[edit]
The Senior School, as seen from the forecourt of the Littlejohn Memorial Chapel, with the open-air pulpit in the
foreground (2009)

 Hawthorn - The school has a single boarding, sporting and academic campus of 27
hectares (67 acres) in suburban Hawthorn.[19] Sporting facilities include ovals and
soccer/rugby fields, two synthetic grass hockey/soccer fields, tennis courts, an indoor
swimming pool, an indoor diving pool, three gymnasiums, two weights rooms and three
squash courts. As the school is situated on the banks of the Yarra River, the school has
rowing and boating facilities located within its grounds.[19]
 Healesville - The school has 80 hectares (198 acres) of forest with a lodge in the hills
at Healesville east of Melbourne, used for Class Retreats, as well as Scout and Cadet
camps.[19]
 Phillip Island - The school has an absolute-beach-front residential seaside property
at Cowes on Phillip Island, which is the site of a one-week orientation camp for Year 7
students and other camps.[19]

Boarding[edit]

One of the three boarding houses - School House (2012)

One of the three boarding houses - Arthur Robinson House (2014)

Scotch has been a boarding school since its foundation.[20] Today the School caters for 160 boarders
of whom around 70% are drawn from around Australia and 30% are from overseas.[21] The boarding
precinct is on "The Hill" which overlooks the Senior School at the main Hawthorn campus. There are
three boarding houses: School House, McMeckan House and Arthur Robinson House. Both School
House and McMeckan House were built as the gift of Anthony Mackie, and his brother and sisters, in
memory of their uncle Captain James McMeckan.[22] Arthur Robinson House is named after a
Chairman of the School Council, Sir Arthur Robinson.[23]

Curriculum[edit]
Scotch students study towards the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), which is the main
secondary student assessment program in Victoria which ranks students with an Australian Tertiary
Admission Rank (ATAR) for university entrance purposes.

Extra-curricular activities[edit]

The music and drama school - named the James Forbes Academy after the School's founder James
Forbes (2009)

Ian Roach Concert Hall - one of the three main performing venues in the James Forbes Academy (2010)

Some extra-curricular groups and activities at Scotch are:

 Army Cadet Corps - The Scotch College Cadet Corps was established in 1884, and
holds an annual Tattoo. Cadets have weekly activities at the school and participate in
camps and bivouacs.[24][25]
 Pipe Band - The Scotch College Pipes and Drums Band was established in 1946 and is
one of the oldest school pipe bands in Australia. It wears the Gordon tartan, and
competes at national and international competitions and highland festivals. It performs at
school and public events including in the annual ANZAC Day March to the Shrine of
Remembrance. It is the current national champion in the Juvenile grade.[26][27] The pipe
band performed on stage with Sir Paul McCartney on 5 and 6 December 2017, during
his One on One tour. Sir Paul famously autographed the vellum of the bass drum on
stage.[28]
 Military Band - The Military Band performs at school, and in public including in the
annual ANZAC Day March to the Shrine of Remembrance and on overseas tours. All
members of the band are also members of the Australian Army Cadet Corps.[29]
  Ist Hawthorn (Scotch College) Scout Group - Scotch has its own Scout Group,
established in 1926, that is part of Scouts Australia. The Scout Group meets regularly
each Thursday at the school and participate in off-campus activities such as camps.[30]
 Sports First Aid - A Thursday afternoon service that boys can choose to undertake to
gain advanced training in first aid. Members of the service learn valuable skills such as
CPR and soft and hard tissue injury management. Members help the Scotch College
community by regularly attending Saturday mornings to treat any injuries suffered during
sport matches. An annual camp is held at Cowes where boys practice the skills they
have learned.[31]
 Debating - Scotch regularly participates in debating, competing in the Debaters
Association of Victoria Schools Competition. Each season, the school hosts the
Hawthorn region of the Schools Competition. In 2008 the First Debating Team were the
State A Grade runners-up, while the school was also runner up in the State British
Parliamentary Debating Competition.[32] Scotch debaters have recently toured the United
Kingdom participating in inter-school debating tournaments.[33][34] In 2009, Scotch won the
inaugural Monash Viewpoint Economics Debate.[35] In 2010, Scotch made Victorian
debating history when it won the A Grade (Year 12), B Grade (Year 11) and C Grade
(Year 10) State Grand Finals in the DAV (Debaters Association of Victoria) Debating
Competition.[36][37]

Sport[edit]

The school's boat ramp and boat houses are within the grounds of the Hawthorn campus on the Yarra
River (2014)

Statue at the Melbourne Cricket Ground of Tom Wills umpiring the first recorded match of Australian Rules
Football between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar
Scotch College competes in the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) league in Athletics,
Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Cross Country, Australian Rules Football, Hockey, Rowing, Rugby,
Soccer, Squash, Swimming and Diving, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball and Water Polo.
In addition to the APS competition, Scotch competes in a number of other sporting competitions,
including:

 Henley Royal Regatta - In 2017 the first crew went to Henley Royal Regatta after
winning the Head of the River and Australian Rowing Championships. They won
the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, becoming the first Victorian crew ever to win it
and the third Australian crew. [38] In 2019 the first crew again made the final of
the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, coming second to Eton College.[39]
 Cordner-Eggleston Cup - This Cup is contested each year by the first football teams of
Scotch and Melbourne Grammar School. It commemorates the first recorded game
of Australian Rules Football, which was played between the two schools on 7 August
1858, which ended in a 1–1 draw and is today commemorated by a statue depicting the
game outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[40][41]

Main article: Cordner-Eggleston Cup

 The Batty Shield - This Shield is contested between the first cricket teams of Scotch
and Eton College. The Shield was inaugurated in 2008 after a number of cricket tours
between the schools, and is named after the current principal of Scotch who was
previously a Housemaster at Eton.[42][43]
 The Tait Cup - This Cup is contested between the first cricket teams of Scotch
and Geelong Grammar School and commemorates the links between the schools back
to their first cricket match in 1855.[44]
 The John Roe Shield - This Shield is contested between the first soccer teams of
Scotch and Saint Peter's College, Adelaide.[45]
 The Colin Bell Trophy - This Trophy is contested between the first Rugby teams of
Scotch and Melbourne Grammar School which recognises the first schoolboy game of
Rugby played in Victoria in 1932.[46]
APS Premierships[edit]
Scotch has won the following APS premierships:[47]

 Athletics (19) - 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1919, 1935, 1940, 1942, 1949, 1953,
1955, 1958, 1959, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978
 Badminton (10) - 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
 Basketball (3) - 1991, 1995, 2016
 Cricket (32) - 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1915, 1922,
1928, 1938, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1964, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1987,
1994, 1996, 2003, 2012, 2017, 2019
 Cross Country (9) - 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005
 Football (36) - 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1900, 1901, 1906, 1911,
1913, 1916, 1930, 1932, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1958,
1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1989, 1996, 2006
 Futsal (2) - 2016, 2017
 Hockey (10) - 1992, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009
 Rowing (46) - 1868, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1876, 1879, 1881, 1884, 1891, 1892,
1899, 1900, 1907, 1908, 1919, 1921, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1941, 1946, 1951, 1952, 1963,
 1966, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011,
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
 Soccer (3) - 1992, 1994, 2016
 Swimming (8) - 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
 Swimming & Diving* (3) - 1999, 2000, 2001
 Table Tennis - 2003
 Tennis (3) - 1988, 1989, 2019
 Volleyball - 2012
 Water Polo (3) - 2004, 2011, 2012
*From 1998 until 2013, swimming and diving events were awarded as a single premiership.

Alumni[edit]
Main article: List of Old Scotch Collegians

"The Hill", which is the location of the boarding precinct, above the Littlejohn Memorial Chapel (2009)

The Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science (2017)

Interior of the Memorial Hall (2010)

Alumni of Scotch College are known as Old Boys or Old Collegians, and automatically become
members of the School's alumni association, the Old Scotch Collegians' Association (OSCA).[48]
Studies over the years have found that Scotch College had more alumni mentioned in Who's Who in
Australia (a listing of notable Australians) than any other school.[49][50][51][52] In 2010 The Age reported
that Scotch College "has educated more of Australia's most honoured and influential citizens than
any other school in the nation", based on research that revealed its alumni had received more
top Order of Australia honours than any other school.[53]
Alumni of Scotch College include

 Three Governors-General of Australia - Sir Zelman Cowen, Sir Ninian

Stephen and Peter Hollingworth.
 Prime Minister of Australia Sir George Reid.
 Four Justices of the High Court of Australia - Sir John Latham (Chief Justice), Kenneth
Hayne, Sir Hayden Starke and Sir Ninian Stephen
 Eight State Premiers - Jim Bacon (Tas), John Cain (Vic), Jeff Kennett (Vic), Sir Harry
Lawson (Vic), John MacPherson (Vic), Sir George Reid (NSW), William Shiels (Vic)
and Vaiben Louis Solomon (SA)
 Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Peter Gration.
 The eponyms of two Universities - Monash University named after Sir John
Monash (who features on the Australian $100 note) and Murdoch University named
after Sir Walter Murdoch.
 Ten University Vice-Chancellors - Sir Kenneth Wheare of Oxford University; Sir Lindsay
Ride of University of Hong Kong; Sir David Derham, Sir John Monash, Sir George
Paton and David Penington of the University of Melbourne; Peter Darvall and Raymond
Martin of Monash University; Sir Walter Murdoch of the University of Western Australia;
and Sir Zelman Cowen of the University of Queensland and University of New England.
 Psychiatrist and former prisoner of war Dr John Cade AO who discovered lithium for the
treatment of bipolar disorder.[54]
 Two BHP Chairmen - Sir Ian McLennan and Sir James Balderstone.
 Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Winneke.
 Economist and founding Chief Editor of the International Monetary Fund Allan G B
Fisher.
 Three times Olympic Gold Medalist Drew Ginn.
 Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Sir Harold Knight.
 Alistair Knox (1912-1980) - mudbrick house designer and builder.
 Captain Robert Little, highest scoring Australian fighter ace in World War I.
 Player and Head Coach of the Australian National Rugby Union Team Ewen McKenzie.
 World number 1 and two times Wimbledon singles tennis champion Gerald Patterson.
 Actor Jesse Spencer.
 Singer-songwriter John Williamson.
 Australian moral philosopher and Laureate Professor Peter Singer.