Drummond and Smith College - History

History

Drummond and Smith College, a combination of the original Drummond College and SH Smith House, has had a long association with education in Armidale. When the Armidale Teachers’ College (ATC) was established in 1928 there was a need to provide accommodation for the women students and this was met by using Girrahween a building opposite Central Park, which had originally been constructed as a private boarding school for girls. In 1930 the residence was renamed after the then Director of Education in New South Wales, Stephen Henry Smith. S H Smith House remained as a residence for ATC until 1972, then continued as a residence for Armidale College of Advanced Education students until amalgamation with the University in 1989. When Smith House became co-ed in 1974 it housed 233 students in a complex of buildings.

During the period following amalgamation, the College Finance Officer was Ms Allison Rocks and the Head of Residence was Dr AW (Sandy) Scott. Drummond College was established as a College of the University in 1969 with 109 females and 44 males, with Dr Richard Bawden appointed as the first permanent head of the College in 1970. Drummond College operated throughout the 1970s until 1979 when the University withdrew it from student accommodation and used it primarily for conferences, also giving office space to the Financial Management Research Centre and The Regional Centre for Music and Drama.

Drummond is named after the late Hon. David Henry Drummond, a prominent State and Federal parliamentarian, and for almost 14 years, NSW Minister for Education. D H Drummond played a vital role in the establishment of the University of New England in the mid to late 1930s and is often referred to as the Father of the University of New England. The College was restored and reopened as a fully operational college in 1990. During most of this period from 1990 to 1996 Mrs Wallis Lenehan was the Secretary and Mr Mike Knowling was appointed the Principal.

Following a downturn in students requiring residential accommodation, the University decided in late 1996 to consolidate the residential colleges on the main campus and to generally reduce the number of beds in the residential system for 1997. One result of this decision was the amalgamation of Drummond College and S H Smith House to form the new entity Drummond and Smith College. This was located in the Drummond College buildings with Dr AW (Sandy) Scott as Principal.