Newington College was founded in 1863. Its establishment was the result of a growing view in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in the previous decade that an institution for education at a level higher than elementary was needed in Sydney. Rev John Manton (1807–1864) was the leading advocate and became the College’s first president on its foundation.

History All Schools XI 1920
History Cadets NCOs 1886
History GPS Athletics 1921
History Head of the River 1921
History NC Football Club 1891

Foundation

The ‘Wesleyan Collegiate Institution’ was established at Newington House, on the banks of the Parramatta River at Silverwater, the former home of colonial merchant and landowner’ John Blaxland. The College opened its doors on 16 July 1863 with 16 students aged between eight and 22. The College was conceived as ‘…decidedly Wesleyan in its character [but] … open to the sons of parents of all religious denominations.’ The College also functioned as the home for theological training for the Methodist Church in NSW until 1914.
Stanmore

The need for a larger and permanent home for the College was met by the move to the College’s present site at Stanmore. The Founders Wing, designed by leading colonial architect Thomas Rowe, was constructed between 1874 and 1880. Some 70 boys and four theological students moved from Silverwater in July 1880 and the new school was formally opened on 18 January 1881. The College’s name changed to ‘Newington College’ in 1880.

The College continued to grow during the following decades. Some boys undertook a classical education and a growing proportion went on to study at the University of Sydney, the city’s only university at the time. Others, particularly boys destined for a career in business, studied in the ‘modern’ stream. Many country boys spent a couple of years at the College to finish their education before starting a working life on the land.

Cricket, rugby and other sports were played from the early years of the College, with Newington and The King’s School playing the first inter-school rugby match in 1870. Newington joined the newly established Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS) in 1892. With one of the oldest school cadet units in the country, established in 1869, rifle shooting was as prominent a sport as cricket and rugby in the years before the First World War. The College was late in adopting rowing as a sport, but made a spectacular debut to win the Head of the River in 1921.

The College’s magazine (now its annual), The Newingtonian, started publication in 1884 and its alumni association, the Old Newingtonians’ Union, was established in 1895.
The World Wars and the Depression

Some 630 former students and staff are known to have served in Australia’s armed forces during the First World War. Of these, 109 are known to have been killed. In the Second World War, some 815 served, of whom 58 are known to have given their lives.

Like most independent schools, Newington College was affected by the Depression. From a peak of 335 students in 1925, enrolments dropped to 260 in 1932 and remained at around that level for the rest of the 1930s. The College sought to attract new enrolments by improving facilities. In 1938, Wyvern House, the biggest building project since the Founders Wing, provided a new home for the College’s Preparatory School. In 1932 a standardised school uniform was adopted and a house system was introduced.
Post-war Expansion

The College grew rapidly in the years following the Second World War, reaching 600 boys in 1952 and 970 by 1960. This growth was accompanied by a succession of building projects through the 1950s and early 1960s which transformed the school landscape and the quality of facilities.

A second preparatory school opened at Killara, on Sydney’s North Shore, in 1957, moving to its present site in neighbouring Lindfield in 1967. In the 1970s and 1980s, academic and sporting achievements were joined by a growing emphasis on cultural activities, particularly in the performing arts, and on service activities, leading to the rich variety of experience that characterises school life today. At the same time the cultural backgrounds of the student body changed in reflection of Australia’s increasingly multicultural society.

The College celebrated its centenary in 1963. With the approach of its sesquicentenary in 2013, Newington College and its community have a new opportunity to learn about and celebrate its history.