St George's College, Perth

St George's College
University of Western Australia
The College, pictured in 2023
The current rendering of the College's coat of arms
Coordinates	31°58′26″S 115°49′18″E
Abbreviation	STGC
Nickname	George's
Motto	Nosse Deum Vivere (Latin)
Motto in English	To know God is to live
Established	1931
Named for	St George
Architect	Hobbs, Smith and Forbes (Original buildings) Hobbs Winning and Leighton (1962 and 1968 additions) Palaiss Architects (2010 additions) Whitehaus (2019 addition)
Architectural style	Interwar Gothic
Colours	Red   White
Gender	All
Warden	Ian Hardy
Residents	c. 270
Website	Official website

St George's College is a residential college within the University of Western Australia. Created through a bequest of Sir John Winthrop Hackett and the subsequent collaboration of the university and the Anglican Diocese of Perth, it opened in 1931, making it the oldest college within the university. Initially male-only, the College became co-educational in 1981. It is recognised for its architectural significance and appears on several heritage listings.

History

The first chancellor of the University of Western Australia (UWA), Sir John Winthrop Hackett, died in 1916. In his will, Hackett made the Anglican Diocese of Perth a residuary legatee, for the purpose of establishing a church college at UWA, with a chapel if possible. Upon the sale of Hackett's shares in The West Australian and The Western Mail in 1926, they ultimately received A£138,285. These funds were used to establish the College, largely the result of efforts of Archbishop Charles Riley, who secured the land for the College from the UWA senate in 1923. However, the senate was found not to have the necessary powers to allocate the land, a situation which required the University Colleges Act 1926 (WA) to be passed. The architectural firm of Sir Talbot Hobbs, E.H. Dean-Smith, and W.J. Forbes was engaged to design the College. Hobbs later became a member of the College Council, and donated a billiards table.

The foundation stones of the College and the College Chapel were each laid on 8 March 1928 by Sir William Campion (Governor of Western Australia) and Riley, respectively. The College was officially opened on 23 April 1931 (Saint George's Day), although the Chapel had not yet been completed. The Chief Justice of Western Australia, Sir Robert McMillan, died at the opening of the College having just delivered his speech. The College catered for 24 men in its first year of operation. Despite its close relationship with the Anglican Church, the College was open to students of any denomination from its founding.

The south wing was opened in 1962, and the north wing in 1968; both were designed by Hobbs Winning and Leighton.

The College became co-educational in 1981 after 50 years of being male-only.

Memorial Wing opened in 2007, commemorating 14 members of the College who died in service in the Second World War and which replaced the memorial squash courts constructed in 1958. Newby Wing opened in 2010 alongside new maintenance and kitchen facilities, and that same year the College sustained significant damage in the 2010 Western Australian storms. The chapel was restored in 2012. Rodgers Wing opened in 2019, designed by Whitehaus.

The College drew some attention in 2019 over plans to host a summer school in collaboration with the controversial Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, which did not eventuate.

In June 2023, the College commenced legal action against Kevin Palassis and his firm Palassis Architects, structural engineering firm Structerre and its CEO Gervase Purich, and hydraulic engineering firm PM White & Partners. Since its construction in 2010, Newby Wing had suffered from extreme subsidence causing cracks in the walls of the building. In its writ to the WA Supreme Court, the College claimed that the defendants had breached their duty of care by failing to carry out their services with "reasonable care and skill", and alleged that Structerre and Purich had provided "misleading or deceptive" representations.

Architecture, buildings, and gardens

The architecture of the original wing of the College and Chapel is described as Interwar Gothic, or alternatively Tudor Gothic. The College was constructed from red brick with Donnybrook stone dressings. The façade of the College is closely modelled on the façade of the Old Court at Selwyn College. The original wing encloses on three sides a grass quadrangle, which significantly differs from most Oxbridge-style quadrangles in that the three built sides feature deep cloisters at the ground and first floor levels to provide horizontal connection and reduce the impact of the summer heat.

Rodgers Wing won the 2020 Master Builders-Bankwest Excellence in Construction Award for projects in the range of A$10–20 million.

Chapel

The College Chapel is aligned on a north-south axis and is entered from the south, rather than the traditional east-west axis. The seating in the nave is arranged in collegiate style with pews facing inwards to each other rather than towards the altar. A similar arrangement is commonly found in the chancel of Gothic churches to provide for a smaller collegial group of worshippers. The College Chapel expanded this format as the College population is collegial as a whole, removing the need for a separate congregation. The pipe organ in its southern loft was built as part of the original Chapel construction by Josiah Eustace Dodd with jarrah casings.

The south façade features the five blazons of the Anglican diocese in which Crawley has been located: (from left to right) Canterbury, Calcutta, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth. The south windows feature (from left to right) Bishop William Broughton, Aidan of Lindisfarne, Augustine of Hippo, Saint Boniface, and Riley. The north windows above the altar feature (from left to right) Saint George, Jesus, and Paul the Apostle.

Heritage status

The College gardens were listed on the Register of the National Estate on 21 October 1980. The College was added to the National Trust on 2 April 1979, and the City of Perth Heritage List on 20 December 1985.

College crest

The College arms were granted by the Garter Principal King of Arms on 5 March 1964, confirming arms used from foundation. The arms include black swans (indicating its location and proximity to the Swan River), a double-headed eagle (drawn from the Hackett family crest in tribute to its founder), and the Cross of St George. The motto is drawn from the Second Collect at Morning Prayer.

Wardens

Notable alumni

Academia

• Ken Freeman – astronomer
• Bob Hodge – linguist

• Barry Ninham – physicist and mathematician
• Richard Pestell – oncologist and endocrinologist

Arts

• Peter Bladen – poet
• Geoffrey Drake-Brockman – artist
• Irwin Lewis – artist
• Maxwell Newton – publisher
• Jarrad Seng – photographer and filmmaker
• Randolph Stow – author

Business

• Sir Rod Eddington – businessman
• Richard Goyder – businessman
• Kevin Cullen – doctor and winemaker

Law

• Sir Francis Burt – jurist
• David Malcolm – judge
• Christopher Pullin – judge

Politics and the public service

• Harvey Barnett – intelligence officer
• Holger Becker – politician
• Mel Bungey – politician
• Alan Carpenter – politician
• Arnold Cook – economist
• John Day – politician
• Peter Dowding – politician
• Alan Eggleston – politician
• Peter Foss – politician
• Sir Gordon Freeth – politician and diplomat
• Philip Gardiner – politician
• Bruce Haigh – diplomat
• David Irvine – diplomat
• Graham Jacobs – politician
• Ern Manea – mayor and doctor
• Bill Marmion – politician
• Ian Medcalf – politician
• Ian Osborne – politician
• Eric Ripper – politician
• David Scaife – politician
• John Stone – public servant and politician
• Douglas Sturkey – diplomat
• Daryl Williams – politician
• Sir John Yocklunn – public servant

Religion

• Bishop Bruce Rosier – Anglican bishop

Sports

• Simon Beasley – Australian rules footballer
• David Dickson – Australian swimmer
• Ken MacLeay – cricketer