Wyvern House - History

History

The Wesleyan Collegiate Institute opened at Newington House, Silverwater, on Thursday 16 July 1863, with 16 students aged from seven years of age - so, Newington College, as the school soon became known, has educated primary school aged boys from its foundation. A bequest, by John Jones, of land at Stanmore, saw the College move to the newly fashionable inner-city suburbs of Sydney in 1880. The Rev Dr Charles Prescott, as President and Headmaster of Newington, wanted to give greater emphasis to preparatory education at the College but it was twenty years after his arrival at Stanmore before a separate prep was first opened. This was made possible by the 1921 bequest of £10,000 by Sir Samuel McCaughey.

By 1937 the McCaughey building was considered inadequate and the then Headmaster, Philip Le Couteur, pushed for the construction of a purpose built school for junior education and he is seen as the founder of the present day Wyvern House. The Old Newingtonian architect Lt Col Alfred Warden VD designed the building and it was inaugurated on 7 October 1938. A major benefactor to the project was Fred Cull and he unveilled a commemorative stone which read: "This House was erected by those who desire for boys a fuller life." The first Wyvern boys started on day one of the new year when an old boy, Sir Percival Halse Rogers, was invited to open the front door with a specially-made gold key.

On its opening, Wyvern had dormitory accommodation for fifty prep boarders. Twenty years later Wyvern boarding accommodation had been expanded and there were eighty boys in residence. In 1973 thirty-seven boys were boarders, ranging in age from eight to twelve, but by 1979 there were only three boys in residence and they were housed in the senior school and the former dormitories were converted to an infants department.

From 1939 Wyvern House boys wore a straw boater with a black hat-band until this was replaced by a black cloth cap in 1976. Both items of head-wear bore an heraldic Wyvern - the emblem of Newington College.

Wyvern held a separate Speech Night for the first time in 1946. From 1957 Wyvern had a brother school when Newington opened an additional preparatory school on the North Shore - first at Killara, but now at Lindfield. In the same year, Wyvern House was the first Australian prep school to undertake an international Rugby tour, when it visited New Zealand. From the 1950s until the 1970s the Wyvern House choir under the direction of Joan Gray achieved distinction in the Sydney Eisteddfod and boys were prepared for participation in performances by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and The Australian Opera.

An exchange program was initiated in 1975 between Wyvern and La Verne Heights Elementary School in Los Angeles. During the 125th anniversary of Newington, Wyvern celebrated its Silver Jubilee.

In 1995 the Adult Deaf Society Headquarters in Cambridge Street, Stanmore, were purchased for the relocation of Wyvern to a stand-alone campus. In that year enrolments had grown to 347 and by 1997 to 360. On 14 August 1998 Wyvern House moved onto its new campus. Sixty years after its foundation, the complex, designed by Old Newingtonian architect John Lawes, was opened by the Governor of New South Wales, His Excellency Gordon Samuels AC.

In January 2009, the Council of Newington College purchased the campus of Mary Andrews College adjacent to Wyvern House at 143-145 Trafalgar Street and 129-133 Cambridge Street. The new site contains two Victorian style homes, Braeside and Horaceville (1884) and a coach house. From 1946 until 1992 the site was the Braeside Church of England Hospital owned by the Anglican Deaconess Institution, Sydney. From 1997, the site became an additional campus of Mary Andrews College and provided residential accommodation. The property was leased back to its previous owner for the first twelve months until plans were formulated for its redevelopment. This 5000 square metre property greatly expanded the current Wyvern campus.