Hutchins School

The Hutchins School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located at Sandy Bay, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.^[4] Hutchins is the only Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 boys' school in the state of Tasmania, and with a student population of approximately 1000, including 50 boarders, it is also one of the largest private schools in the state. Established in 1846, the school is one of the oldest continually running schools in Australia.

The Hutchins School is member of the Association of Independent Schools of Tasmania,^[5] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),^[6] and a founder-member of the International Coalition of Boys' Schools, an alliance of 350 schools in seven countries which exchanges information, ideas and the latest research into the education of boys.^[2] It is also an accredited member of the Council of International Schools.^[7] The Headmaster is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia.^[8]

History

The Hutchins School was established in 1846 at Hobart Town in memory of The Venerable William Hutchins, first Archdeacon of Van Diemen's Land. Arriving in the colony in 1837, Archdeacon Hutchins had worked tirelessly to establish a faithful ministry, erecting churches and schools and laying the foundation for secondary education under the auspices of the Church of England.

The School commenced operations under Headmaster John Richard Buckland at Ingle Hall, a large Georgian house dating from 1811 which still stands in lower Macquarie Street, Hobart. Three years later it moved several blocks up Macquarie Street to a purpose-built schoolhouse designed by Tasmanian architect, William Archer. The Buckland family's combined total of forty-six years in charge of Hutchins served to set the School on a distinguished educational and spiritual path, which it continues to expand and develop to this day.

In the early days of many and varied schools and tenuous longevity, Hutchins survived by absorbing pupils, staff and plant of other less robust institutions, including Christ's College (1846-1912), The High School (1850–65), Horton College (1855-93) and Officer College (1888-1900). When Hutchins joined forces with Christ's College in 1912 it was the signal for Arthur Augustus Stephens to close Queen's College, founded by him in 1893, and accept the post of Vice-Master of Hutchins. In 1905 Hutchins amalgamated with Buckland's School, opened in 1893 by William Harvey Buckland, son of founding headmaster J R Buckland and brother of second headmaster John Vansittart Buckland. Hutchins would go on to absorb King's Grammar School (1907), Franklin House School (1917) and Apsley House School (1928), and affiliate with Gryce (1934) and Gladwyn (1937) Schools.^[9]

By the 1950s the School was growing too large for its inner-city site and in 1957 a new Junior School was built on an elevated site overlooking the River Derwent at Sandy Bay. This followed the opening at the Sandy Bay site of a sub-primary section in 1946 and the Memorial Oval and pavilion in 1955. The Senior School was later constructed on the adjacent site of the former Queenborough Cemetery, following a council referendum in which ratepayers voted '1 for educational purposes' in 1960.^[10] By 1964 the Senior School campus encompassed a boarding house and science wing, quickly followed by an administration block and classrooms, while the Junior School campus across the road soon expanded to include a fledgling Middle School. The Macquarie Street building was sold in 1965, with Hutchins commencing full operations at Sandy Bay the following year.

Middle School science laboratories were completed by 1969, while on the Senior School campus the Nettlefold Library opened in 1970, the Chapel of St Thomas in 1971 and the Palfreyman Gymnasium in 1974, followed by a new humanities block and Development Office in 1976. A Craft Centre and Music School opened in 1977, the boat house adjacent to the beach at nearby Marieville Esplanade in 1978 and an on-site swimming pool in 1979. A new Middle School building opened in 1981 (replaced in 1998) along with the Terence Butler Auditorium and a drama studio, while a new humanities block in 1985 incorporated an archives department and museum, the latter opening in 1987. An Early Learning Centre (ELC) also opened in 1987, quickly followed by the Dudley Clarke Performing Arts Centre, the Design and Technology building and the Conference Centre (all in 1989), with the Foundation Centre for Excellence opening in 1991.

The Stephen Hay Memorial Park, inaugurated in 1981 and officially opened in 1987, followed the lead set by the pioneering outdoor education centre in Australian schools, operated by Hutchins from 1947 at Chauncy Vale near Bagdad.

Continued growth and development on the Sandy Bay site has seen the School expand and upgrade all of its buildings and grounds, the latter including two sports ovals, tennis courts and a soccer/hockey field. Recent additions include the H G Baldwin Wing, incorporating a new library learning centre, careers office, senior classrooms and archives/museum (opened 2011), the Marieville campus for the Power of 9 program, and most recently a new ELC, incorporating the Hutchins Outside School Hours Care Centre. A new Sailing Academy opened on the Senior School campus in November 2015.

The House System and pastoral care

The House system introduced by Headmaster Charles Campbell Thorold in 1918 was designed to encourage school spirit through sporting competition. School House already existed as the traditional home of the boarders, Buckland House was named in honour of the founding family and Stephens House in memory of the much-loved deputy-headmaster who had died in 1914. Thorold House was created in 1960 from a mixture of new boys and volunteers. The donation by Reverend J W Bethune in 1918 of a House Challenge Shield was followed in 1923 by the presentation of an Inter-House Challenge Debating Shield to increase the breadth of competition. The stakes were raised and competition extended still further in 2000 with the donation of the Stephen Gumley Shield for inter-house academic effort.

The pastoral care system sees all teachers in their role as mentors guiding boys through the School in small House groups of mixed ages. School House ceased to cater solely for boarders in 2000, when the growing numbers of international students in the boarding house were integrated across all four Houses throughout the School. Hutchins has been actively encouraging the inclusion of international students for more than half a century, with students enrolled from South-East Asia and India in 1954-56, while a Polynesian Scholarship was inaugurated in 1968.

Headmasters/Principals

J R Buckland (1846–74)

J V Buckland (1874–92)

H H Anderson (1892-1906) (G A Gurney Co-Principal 1901-02)

E G Muschamp (1907–08)

G A Gurney (1908–12) (Acting Headmaster)

L H Lindon (1912–17)

C C Thorold (1918–29)

J R O Harris (1929–42)

V S Murphy (1942–45)

P Radford (1946–53)

W H Mason-Cox (1954–58)

H V Jones (1958)

G H Newman (1959–63)

D H Lawrence (1963–70)

D B Clarke (1971–86)

J M B Bednall (1987–96)

W D Toppin (1997-2007)

W P Dean (2007–present)

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of The Hutchins School include:

• Percy Abbot CMG, a soldier, politician and solicitor^[11]
• Professor Frank Bowden CBE, FRS, scientist^[12]
• Sir Stanley Burbury KCMG KCVO KBE, Governor of Tasmania (1973–1982)^[13]
• Sir John Davies KCMG, politician, newspaper proprietor and first-class cricketer^[14]
• Lyndhurst Giblin DSO, MC, economist^[15]
• Thomas Murdoch CMG, politician^[16]
• The Honourable Chief Justice Harold Nicholas, judge and politician^[17]
• Sir James Ramsay KCMG KCVO CBE DSC, Governor of Queensland (1977–1985)^[13]
• Alan Walker, architect^[18]
• Owen Walsh, Administrator of Norfolk Island (2008–2012)^[13]
• John Bisdee VC, first Australian winner of the Victoria Cross (1882-c18865)
• Guy Wylly VC, joint first Australian winner of the Victoria Cross (1889-c1893)
• James William Tibbs CMG, Headmaster of Auckland Grammar School, 1893-1922 (1867–72)
• John Clark, founding Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) (1946–50)
• Denis Warner OBE CMG, war correspondent, author and journalist (1928–35)
• Tom Garrett, artist (1891–93)
• Saul Eslake, economist (1968–74)
• Hamish Lindsay, space tracker, photographer and author (1946–53)
• Tim Bowden, broadcaster, journalist and author (1946–54)
• Richard Hewson, master mariner and navigator, winner of 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race (1992–97)
• Michael Hodgman, Liberal MHR (1947–56)
• Will Hodgman, Liberal Premier (1980–86)
• Brodie Neill, designer (1983–96)
• Stephen Gumley, engineer and first CEO, Australian Defence Materiel Organisation (1966–74)

See also

• List of schools in Tasmania
• List of boarding schools
• Education in Tasmania
• List of Victoria Crosses by School

References

External links

• The Hutchins School website