Barker College is an independent Anglican, day and boarding school, located in Hornsby, a North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1890 by the Reverend Henry Plume at Kurrajong Heights, Barker is an all-boys school from Kindergarten to Year 9, and co-educational from Years 10 to 12. The college has a private selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,968 students,[3] including 60 boarders from Years 10 to 12.[5] At the commencement of 2011 there will be additional K-2 Classes.

Barker is affiliated with the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference,[6] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[7] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[8] the Australian Boarding Schools’ Association (ABSA),[5] the Independent Schools Association (ISA),[9] and is a founding member of the Combined Associated Schools (CAS).[9]

Barker College was founded in early 1890 by an Anglican priest, the Reverend Henry Plume, at Kurrajong Heights in the Blue Mountains with five pupils. It was named for Plume’s mentor and friend, the Right Reverend Frederic Barker, the second Bishop of Sydney. The College moved to its present site in Hornsby early in 1896, and in 1919 its ownership transferred to the Church of England.[10]
[edit] Co-education

1975 saw the introduction of the co-educational collegiate senior school for students in Years 11 and 12, with the enrolment of 59 female students. In 2000, Year 10 also became part of the senior School, and girls now usually enter the school at Year 10 level.[10] Today there are 450 girls enrolled at Barker.[5]
[edit] Headmasters
Cigarette card featuring the Barker colours & crest, c.1910s
Period Details
1890 – 1905 Reverend Henry Plume
1905 – 1929 William Carter
1929 – 1932 Arthur Thorold
1933 – 1957 William Leslie
1958 – 1963 John Dewes
1963 – 1986 Trevor McCaskill
1986 – 1995 Neil Tucker
1996 – 2012 Dr. Roderic Kefford
[edit] Motto

The school motto, Honor, non Honores, is derived from the Latin term to mean “Honour, not rewards”. This replaced a previous motto, “I Take, but I Surrender”, adopted for the school by Henry Plume in 1875 from the armorial achievement of one of his friends, Robert Fowler, Lord Mayor of Sydney. The motto was changed in 1895, when the school moved from Kurrajong to Hornsby.
[edit] Campus

Barker College is situated on a 20-hectare campus in suburban Hornsby,[11] 25 kilometres to the north of Sydney.[12] The Junior School, shares the campus with the Middle and Senior schools.[11]

The current facilities of the school include:

A library; An Information Technology Centre; The McCaskill Music Centre, containing private tuition studios, classrooms, a recording studio, and a recital hall;
Three Drama performance spaces, including four rehearsal rooms, Three Drama Theatre with raked seating, and the School Hall;
The Centenary Design Centre with provision for individual studios and whole-class teaching in Design & Technology and Visual Arts;
The Barker Foundation Science Centre, containing ten teaching laboratories, four individual student laboratories and a 106-seat lecture theatre;
Boarding houses Carter (Boys) and Plume (Girls);
Sporting fields, together with Tennis and Basketball courts, and an artificial surface for Hockey, Soccer, Netball, Athletics, Basketball, Volleyball and other games;
A gymnasium, equipped with weights and resistance training equipment, and an adjoining indoor Aquatic Centre.[11]
The Kurrajong Building, equipped with 23 classrooms, 12 smaller group learning spaces, and 2 theatres which seat 302 and 215 respectively. This building is often used for Drama, English, and Christian Studies Lessons, encompassing Years 7-12 in this space.

[edit] House system

As with most Australian schools, Barker College utilises a house system.

Middle school houses

Andrew (black) – Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat: ‘Fortune follows the brave’.
Boyce (light blue) – Aspiro: ‘Aspire’.
Butters (grey) – Diriget Deus: ‘God will direct’. The house animal is a badger, representing work ethic.
Holt (green) – Is Fidelis Vincit: ‘Faith brings luck’. The house animal is a sheep.
Pain (white) – Vive Et Vivat: ‘Live and let live’.
Wade (dark blue) – Labor In Unum: ‘Work together’.
Wailes (pale yellow) – Per Laborem Ad Victoriam: ‘From hard work comes victory’.
Wilson (brown) – Deus Est Meum Scutum: ‘God is my battler’. The house animal is a dragon.

Junior school houses

The houses are named after explorers:

Mawson (Dark Blue)
Byrd (Green)
Tasman (Light Blue)
Scott (Red)
Hillary (Yellow)
Flinders (White)

[edit] Co-curricular activities

The school conducts many extracurricular activities, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, cadets, drama and musical performances, choirs and bands, chess, debating, mock trials, public speaking, mountain biking, skiing, equestrianism, and formerly bred its own cattle for competition in the Sydney Royal Easter Show (the agriculture club was disbanded in 2007).[citation needed]
[edit] Cadet unit
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Founded in 1900 [1][13] the Barker College Cadet Unit (BCCU) is one of Australia’s oldest cadet units[citation needed]. The unit consists of five companies and two wings made up of those in school years 9 (C Coy and E Coy), 10 (B COY), one company of female members (D COY) and one Adventure training patrol, A Coy for Year 10 and 11 boys and girls. A Pioneer Wing also provides services for the unit through camp preparation, basic construction and logistics as well as instruction in related skills such as abseiling and pyrotechnics. The Pioneer wing started originally as the cadet band. But over the years they started building the obstacle courses and doing other tasks as well. Andrew Smith then decided to change the band into the “Pioneer Wing”, serving the same sort of role as the pioneer wing in the real army.

The Headquarters Wing is the smallest group in the unit and is responsible for the logistics and administration of the unit. Each company participates in all three “Biv’s” (weekend camps) which are held at various locations such as Holsworthy Army base and Glenworth Valley. At the end of the cadets year all members of the unit attend the week long ‘Annual Camp’, held at the Australian Army Barracks at Singleton.

Due to the school’s refusal to disband the unit during the Defence Department’s public relations disaster related to the Vietnam War, the unit is now one of the few in Australia to receive only ‘limited support’ from the Department.[citation needed] The school does however utilise the services of volunteers, typically previous members as well as the school’s teachers, to assist with events such as the camps.

After a lack of members in the late 1970s, the cadet marching band (renamed the Barker College Cadet Marching Band) was fully revived, with the drafting of all school cadets who could play a suitable instrument, in 1999 and participated in its first ANZAC Day Parade in 2000. They have since participated in all Anzac day marches until present. The conductor Peter Warmsley wrote a song to be added to the bands repertoire. The Band Major of 2008/2009 (Sutton) also wrote a piece to be added to the repertoire. The Marching band is made of conscripted musicians who are in the unit, and the Drum corps is made up of voluntary drummers in the cadet unit.

Echo company was introduced in 2008 as a way of coping with the increase of male year 9 enlistments. There are 3 Echo company Platoon, and 3 Charlie Platoons.
[edit] Alumni
[edit] Old Barker Association

Alumni of Barker may elect to join the school’s alumni association, the Old Barker Association (OBA). The Old Barker Association (OBA) was formed in 1908, and was originally known as the ‘Barker College Old Boys Union’. The OBA provides a link between Barker College and its past students, with in excess of 7,500 members.[14] Some notable Barker alumni include:
[edit] Notable alumni
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[edit] Media, entertainment and the arts

David Astle – Cryptic crossword compiler: “DA”
Andrew Bevis – London West End actor
Roger Bevis – Announcer, 97.8 Magic FM Perth
Nigel Burley – Artist with the Australian Ballet and the Royal Ballet
Rob Canning – Host, Channel 10 Sports Tonight
Mike Carlton – Former 2UE radio presenter
Simon Fieldhouse – Artist
Alexander Frazer – Veterans Photo Incident 2002
Jarod Green – Founder, The Handsomity Institute and director/creator of the TV series Beached Az

Chris Lilley – Comedian and actor, creator of TV series We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year, Summer Heights High, and Angry Boys
Nick Littlemore – Producer and musician, as a member of electropop band Pnau
Sam Littlemore – Record producer and recording artist otherwise known as Sam La More, and previously part of Tonite Only
Stephen Molloy – Founder, The Inspiration Room
Phillip Noyce – Film director
David Rollins – Author of fiction, creator of character Vin Cooper
Chris Russell – Judge on the ABC-TV series The New Inventors
Hannah Wang – Actress, starred in The Sleepover Club
James West – Journalist, Executive Producer of Hack on Triple J

[edit] Politics, public service and the law

Richard Button SC – barrister, Deputy Senior Public Defender
Michael Edwards – Member of Committee for Agricultural Development in the Riverina Region, Wagga Wagga
Mitch Fifield – Liberal Senator for Victoria
Peter Garrett – former Midnight Oil lead singer; environmentalist; Labor member for Kingsford-Smith, federal Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth
Rob Oakeshott – independent Member for Lyne
Philip Ruddock – Liberal Member for Berowra and former federal immigration minister, attorney-general

[edit] Science, medicine and technology

Professor James Angus – Vice-President of the International Union of Pharmacology, Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, former Pro-Chancellor and President of the Academic Board of the University of Melbourne
Douglas Armati – writer, researcher and consultant with management expertise in the protection of digital intellectual property
Dr Derek J Binney – Expert in knowledge management & innovation[15]
Professor Peter Bishop – fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Professor Chris Heyde – fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Emeritus Professor Paul Korner – fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Emeritus Professor Archibald McIntyre – fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Andrew Tridgell – Creator of and contributor to the Samba software file server for linking Windows clients and Unix file server systems, and co-inventor of the rsync algorithm

[edit] Sport

Hamish Angus – Australian sevens rugby union player
Alex Blackwell- Australian and NSW women’s cricketer
Kate Blackwell- Australian and NSW women’s cricketer
Jamie Brazier – Papua New Guinean cricketer[16]
Robert Bruce – 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner – Men’s 400m Individual Medley
Adrian Buchan – World Champion Surfer
Brendon Cook – international race car driver
Ben Darwin – former Wallaby
Robert Evans – “Sledgehammer” WBA/WBC Medium Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion 2005/06
Sue Fear – mountaineer, first Australian woman to climb Mount Everest, died in 2006 while climbing

Richard Harry – former Wallaby
Alyssa Healy- Australian and NSW woman’s cricketer
Nick Hurrell – Hong Kong national rugby union player – XV’s & VII’s[citation needed]
Mitchell Pearce – Sydney Roosters current halfback
Hugh Pyle – Melbourne Rebels rugby union player
Cameron Shepherd – former NSW Waratahs, current Western Force and Wallaby fullback
Lisa Sthalekar – Australian and NSW women’s cricketer
Peter Taylor – former Australian Test and limited-overs cricketer
Ben Whittaker – Western Force Rugby Union player
Gordon Windeyer – high jumper and Australian Commonwealth Games team member 1974 & 1978, won gold in 1974, World Cup in 1977