PRINCE ALFRED COLLEGE INCORPORATION (VARIATION OF CONSTITUTION) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 29 September 2010.)

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:49): I am the lead speaker for the opposition on the Prince Alfred College Incorporation (Variation of Constitution) Amendment Bill, but I can assure the house I will not need very much time. The amendments being made are at the request of Prince Alfred College, in consultation with the Uniting Church of Australia and the Synod of South Australia, and will bring the voting requirements more in line with other similar legislation and with the synod itself.

The original Prince Alfred College Incorporated Act dates from 1878, and the school itself from 1869. Prince Alfred College was named after Alfred, one of four sons of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. The founders of Prince Alfred College were determined that the religious traditions of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, should be indoctrinated in the school. Young Methodist men of the colony and Prince Alfred College were encouraged to lead disciplined, hardworking and predominantly Christian lives.

The college today represents the finest traditions of independent school education in South Australia, offering the highest standard of academic instruction and school community life. It has been an International Baccalaureate program since 1995, so it has been offering that since that period, and the college counts many leading academics, medical professionals, sportsmen and those who have succeeded in the world of business amongst its old scholars. Some that come to mind are people such as Rob Gerard, Sir Robert Helpmann, and even Bob Francis is an old scholar of Prince Alfred College.

Mr Marshall: That notable academic.

Mr PISONI: That notable academic, the member for Norwood reminds me. Artist Sir John Ashton and, of course, the Independent senator, Nick Xenophon, not to mention the member for Flinders, the member for Schubert and the Hon. John Dawkins in the other place are also scholars of Prince Alfred College. I think it is fair to speak of—

Mr Venning interjecting:

Mr PISONI: The member for Kavel is also an old scholar of Prince Alfred College—the values instilled in those members in accepting me, an old Salisbury High School boy, as one of their colleagues and being accepted so welcomingly into the Liberal Party all those years ago when I used to attend those meetings in my overalls. I must say that I was much more welcome at the Young Liberal meeting than I was at the Young Labor meeting that I attended first, and decided against it. I felt very uncomfortable about everybody sitting around calling themselves 'Comrade'. It was not a comfortable feeling, I can tell you.

The Chappell brothers are other notable old scholars. The 2010 MasterChef winner Adam Liaw was also a student of the college. So, we can see a broad range of skills. The opposition supports the amendments requested by the college.

This amendment relates to the number of members of the council of the college who must agree to a variation of the constitution of the council. Currently, a variation must be passed by 12 members of the council, or three-quarters of the members present and voting, whichever is the greater. The amendment will provide that a variation will require the support of three-quarters of the members of the council (and thus remove the reference to at least 12 members). A variation will still require the approval of the synod under section 19(3) of the act.

So, we support the bill.

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (15:52): I rise to also speak on the bill before the house. As the member for Norwood, I have the fortunate situation that Prince Alfred College is located within my boundaries. This is one of the few organisations in South Australia which has been established under an act of this parliament. I take this opportunity today to place some history and some facts about this very fine school onto the public record.

Prince Alfred College was established in 1869 and was named after Alfred, one of four sons of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. The school currently has an enrolment of 1,000 boys, including some 100 borders, who are there from year 7 to year 12. It offers a range of courses, including the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) and the International Baccalaureate (IB). It is a great school. It has had 10 headmasters, dating back to the first headmaster, Sir Samuel Fiddian (1869-1870), right up to the present headmaster, Mr Kevin Tutt, who has been a headmaster at this fine school since 2004.

It is a great school and it has many notable achievements. In fact, the school has had no fewer than 18 separate Rhodes scholars. The first, of course, was in 1937 when William Douglas Allen attended New College, Oxford, right up to the most recent, Ryan Paul Manuel, who attended Merton College, Oxford in 2006. What a great and proud history that is.

There have been many notable members of the business community, including, of course, Sir Edward Holden, the founder of the Holden manufacturing company based here in South Australia; Rob Gerard, a great South Australian businessman and philanthropist; and the Coopers family. There have been other very notable old scholars, including Sir Robert Helpmann, a great dancer, actor, director and choreographer, and last year's South Australian of the Year, Dr Bill Griggs, is an old scholar of this school.

The school has made many fine achievements on the sporting field. The intercols for this school are played with St Peter's College, which is also based in the electorate of Norwood. The first intercol was played in 1878, and it was recently reflected in TheWeekend Australian that this is the oldest unbroken annual contest in the history of cricket. What great competition between these two fine schools.

I would just like to say that many fine footballers have attended the school, including Wayne Jackson and Craig Kelly, to name a couple, but it is on the cricket field where this school has really performed, providing Australia with no fewer than four test captains. The first was Clem Hill, followed by Joe Darling and, of course, Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell. What a great contribution this school has made to cricket.

This school has also made a huge contribution and continues to make a huge contribution in the area of politics. Currently, we have two senators in the federal parliament: Senator Corey Bernardi and Senator Nick Xenophon from Prince Alfred College. Grant Chapman, is a former Australian senator from this fine college, as well as Sir John Lavington Bonython, a former lord mayor of Adelaide, and we have many current members of the South Australian parliament, including Mr Goldsworthy, Mr Treloar, Mr Venning, and the Hon. John Dawkins in the other place.

I was fortunate enough to attend recently (on 7 September) the renaming of the ANZAC Hall at this school and the opening of the Piper Pavilion. This night also included the unveiling of a sculpture by a prominent old scholar, Robert Hannaford. Prince Alfred College has now announced plans for a major initiative to establish a state-of-the-art health and sports facility on its Kent Town campus. This is an ambitious project which will, of course, build on the tremendous history this college has in providing facilities of the very highest order for all its boys.

It is a very great pleasure for me to be the member of this parliament who represents this college, and I am very happy to support this bill.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert, I am sure that you will have something say.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:59): Madam, on this occasion, I certainly will. I rise to support this legislation and, particularly, Prince Alfred College (PAC). This is quite a unique situation in the house. I think this is the second time in my long career that we have done a hybrid bill for Prince Alfred College, and it is quite a unique situation where an institution, a school such as PAC, has a link to the parliament. I am, indeed, as the previous speaker said, very honoured to be a Prince's old boy. In fact, I now have the extra prestige of being what they call a Vintage Red (I would prefer blue, but that is the other school), that is, an old scholar over the glorious age of 60.

I also acknowledge that many other old scholars of PAC have been prominent members of this parliament over many years. The member for Unley has listed them, as has the member for Norwood, so I will not reiterate those but, rather, talk about the old scholars who sit with me here today: the member for Kavel, the member for Flinders, and the Hon. John Dawkins in the other place. Over the years, a previous speaker, the Hon. John Oswald, was a great old scholar, as was minister Wotton and minister Buckby, as well as the Hon. Legh Davis—all prominent old scholars in this place.

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

Mr VENNING: The Hon. Peter Dunn was as well. PAC is a wonderful institution of learning and opportunity for young South Australian men. There is a long list of South Australian leaders who are old scholars, and it really is a list of who's who in South Australia. We are very proud of our school, and the old scholars' association is probably one of the most active and successful on the world stage. We have members all over the world who meet regularly, and the old scholars' dinner in London is a quite famous and well-attended event. It is comparable with old scholar associations at Oxford and Cambridge universities, etc.

I believe the original legislation in 1878 had certain expectations. Well, I thank our forebears because I believe that these expectations have been well and truly honoured, as PAC is today a most successful institution, arguably, and without bias, one of Australia's finest schools.

I was interested to read J.F. Ward's book, The story of the first eighty years, 1867-1948. Mr Ward was headmaster between 1930 and 1948. On page 54 of the book (which was borrowed by the member for Flinders), it tells of the school's very early days and of how they severed the direct link to the Wesleyan Conference—which was then the Methodist Church—of the discussions that followed and of the relationship between the conference and the trustees, who hold the property for the committee.

Legal advice was sought in 1876, and it was decided that the simplest way was for PAC to become an incorporated body, the same as the unmentionable school—St Peter's. A subcommittee was appointed to discuss this plan with the lawyers and, finally, in 1878 a private member's bill was passed in the South Australian parliament whereby PAC became an incorporated body. This not only simplified the situation but also gave stability to the college. The act of incorporation sets out that the school shall be governed by a committee appointed annually by the conference, consisting of an equal number of Methodist ministers and laymen.

I would now like to read out the actual Hansard of that day in 1878. Under the heading 'Prince Alfred College Incorporation Bill', it reads:

Second Reading. Sir H. Ayers, in moving the second reading of this Bill, said since he last addressed the Council on the subject the Bill had been referred to a Select Committee. The Committee had reported that the preamble was proved, and it would be seen from the evidence that the objects of the Bill had been fully supported. Shortly stated the Bill had reference to an institution known as the Prince Alfred College, possessing a property valued at £20,000. Up to the present time no settled form of trust had been entered into by the persons having the management of the institution or those contributing towards it. Hitherto the institution had been governed by a Board of Management under certain rules and regulations drawn up for their guidance, but which in themselves had no legal effect.

The Bill before hon. members was to give the Governors of the institution legal powers to make regulations according to the principle laid down in the Bill. The only point in the Bill that would affect the public in any way was that which limited the liability of the management and subscribers to the institution to the property itself, but he would point out that the property was of a value far above what the liability incurred was likely to be. The liabilities of the college it would be seen were very small. The value of the property, as he had said, was £20,000. The liabilities were nominally £4,000, but the mortgagee having allowed £1,500 to be deducted the liabilities were really only £2,500.

He thought it would be seen that there was not much probability of the public being put to any difficulty with regard to the recovery of any debt that might be incurred by the management of the College. The institution was self-supporting, and provided for the education of 250 pupils. It had never received any aid from the State, and it was not at all probable that it would ever ask for such aid. He thought hon. members were not at all likely to oppose the motion.

And it was then passed. How interesting it is to read this and look back and reflect on the school's progress since then—from those 250 pupils to now over 1,000 boys, aged four to 18.

As regards the school's indebtedness, as one of the member's of the foundation, can I say that the proportion in relation to debt over equity is probably as good today as it was then. That school has been in excellent hands. I extend my best wishes to the current principal—can we still call him headmaster?

Mr Goldsworthy: Headmaster.

Mr VENNING: Headmaster. It always was headmaster, so I think it is good enough. My best wishes go to Kevin Tutt, all the staff, the board and the students. I have three grandsons, so far, and I hope that they are able to attend, making it five generations of our family attending this school. I also express my concern at the difficult time that our sister school, Annesley, is going through. I am a loss to know how this can be with PAC so successful. I only hope that enrolments at Annesley will lift and keep this fine school viable.

Finally, I again commend this bill to the house. I am pleased that the government is going to allow a select committee. I am happy to serve on that committee, if required. It is a bit of history that I do not think we should change. I am sure that the select committee will not take too long nor cost the taxpayer a lot of money. I am pleased that we are going to have a select committee, because it will keep the history alive and it will keep the connection of this parliament to this fine school. I support the bill.

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (16:07): I, too, am pleased to make a brief contribution to the debate in support of the bill. The members for Unley, Norwood and Schubert have all spoken in support of this bill, obviously. I am pleased to speak to the bill, being an old scholar of the school. I attended Prince Alfred College from 1969 to 1974 inclusive, and I am thankful that my parents gave me that opportunity. I believe it was, and still is—right through the history of the school—an outstanding educational institution.

As a result of attending PAC, I was provided with many opportunities, such as a good academic education. It also exposes you to many other opportunities. It has a broad academic curriculum and many extracurricular activities, particularly sports. Every boy was encouraged to play sports. In fact, in the first three years of secondary school, you had to play both a winter and a summer sport. I played cricket and football and, although I was not by any stretch of the imagination an outstanding sportsman, the school provided an opportunity for every boy to participate in the sports that were provided.

I think in the senior teams, in years 11 and 12 (what we called Leaving and Matric), they had a sixth cricket team, so you could play for the sixth if you wanted to. Those opportunities were made available to the Leaving and Matriculation boys if they wanted to avail themselves of playing cricket for the school. It did not matter how good or how bad you were at anything, the school provided an opportunity for you to participate.

I think many boys who attended the school have carried that with them since leaving: the fact that if an opportunity presents itself and you are interested and think you are equipped to take that opportunity, then you have a go. There is nothing that should stand in the way of availing yourself of an opportunity. Many boys, after leaving school and pursuing careers, in whatever fields they moved into, have carried that with them: whatever opportunity presents itself, you avail yourself of it, if you so wish.

I also want to talk about some of the other things that the school promotes. I strongly believe that the school fosters the ideals of an egalitarian society. Some people may disagree with that, but it is my opinion, having gone to that school for six years and witnessed what takes place and what is instilled in the boys at that school, that no-one is any better or any worse than anybody else at that school. That ideal is carried from the school out into the community.

Members interjecting:

Mr GOLDSWORTHY: I am hearing some interjections from the other side of the chamber. I was going to resist the temptation to respond, but I remember in my first term in this place (2002-06) a debate took place where the other side was trying to pursue the notion of a class structure in the state. I do not believe that is the case; other people may, but I do not. As I said, it is my belief that a school such as PAC fosters the ideals of an egalitarian society because that is part of what has been taught to each of those boys at that school: that nobody is any better than anybody else and nobody is worse than anybody else, and that is what people should look to when they move into the community. I do not mind if people disagree with me, but that is what I believe.

In 1969, when I was in year 8 (or what we used to call first year in those days), the school celebrated its centenary. I clearly remember there were some really tremendous events to celebrate the centenary. There were some new science, physics and chemistry facilities opened that year. I clearly remember attending that, as a 12-year-old boy, with my parents. It was only last year in 2009 that the school obviously celebrated its 140^th anniversary.

My son is a student at PAC at the moment in year 10 and he is enjoying the opportunities and facilities the school provides. As the member for Schubert said, he would like his grandsons to attend PAC, and that would make for the fifth generation of the Venning family to attend the school. My son is the fifth generation in my family to attend PAC, which is a good thing. We do not hold a candle, though, to some members of the Cooper family—I think about the eighth generation is there now—and we all know the Cooper family from their brewing enterprises and other significant contributions they make to the state.

I have been pleased to provide my opinion of what this school has offered to its scholars and students over the years. As I said, I received a good academic education. I completed my matriculation year. I did not want to pursue any tertiary studies, so I looked to enter the corporate world, and that is exactly what I did. I went and worked for a fairly large corporation in the banking sector, and I did that for 22 years.

As I said at the start of my contribution, I am certainly pleased to support the bill. I know the school has asked for this legislation to be brought to the house. They want some changes to their constitution, so we obviously do not have any issue with that and are pleased to support the bill.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (16:16): I, too, rise to support this amendment bill. I am another old scholar. I should declare also, as I have been asked to sit on the committee to sign off on this amendment, that I have two boys at the school at the moment. Both are boarders, as I was—five years a boarder, in fact—and I can honestly say that I enjoyed every single moment of it. It was certainly a wonderful experience and one that I have appreciated for all these years since.

I did ask myself, when I saw this amendment bill listed, why it required an act of parliament for Prince Alfred College to come into being; in fact, it did not quite. I made reference, as the member for Schubert has, to Fred Ward's book, Prince Alfred College: the story of the first eighty years, and I dug deep and found, as the member for Schubert did, on page 54—

Mr Venning: You tipped me off.

Mr TRELOAR: I tipped him off. That's right. I congratulate the members for Schubert, Unley and Norwood on their research, and the member for Kavel for his recollections, no doubt. The book states:

Prince Alfred College owes its existence to the vision and determination of a group of Methodist Ministers and laymen in the early days of South Australia.

In those days in South Australia—and it is probably still the case now—the Methodists (what was to become the Uniting Church) were, in fact, one of the dominant denominations. In thinking about this, I realised that in those days, of course, copper had been discovered in South Australia and a lot of Welsh and Cornish people came out to South Australia to work in the copper mines of Kapunda, Burra and, later, the Copper Triangle on Yorke Peninsula. These people were stoically Methodist or Wesleyan in their approach to life, which considered hard work and temperance virtues.

Mr Venning: No wine.

Mr TRELOAR: No wine, no beer, weak ale occasionally and medicinal brandy perhaps at a push.

Mr Venning: How things have changed!

Mr TRELOAR: 'How things have changed!' the member for Schubert says. In 1865, after discussions that had begun as early as 1854, an area of 13 acres and 12 perches was purchased at Kent Town for £2,750—quite expensive, I would have thought. Unfortunately for the purchasers, there were no funds available for the express purpose of establishing a school, so they went to the sale, bid to the price of £2,750 but had no money to fund that. One of their supporters, Mr Thomas Greaves Waterhouse, put up the funds to be paid back with interest at the going rate of 8 per cent at the time.

Mr Bignell: They should have gone to the bank.

Mr TRELOAR: They should have gone to the bank, you reckon? Mr T.G. Waterhouse very kindly loaned funds and, in fact, in the 1870s had a wing of the new wing of the school named after him. So, there was method in his madness, I would suggest.

In 1867, it became known that Queen Victoria's second son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was to visit South Australia. Prince Alfred was invited and consented to laying the foundation stone of the new school. This was interesting because it was the first time that a member of the royal family, a member of the established Church of England, had consented to be involved in the foundation of a new school that was, in fact, associated with a denomination that was nonconformist, that was not of the established Church of England. So, getting Prince Alfred to agree to this was a considerable coup.

On 5 November 1867, just four days after laying the stone in the tower section of the GPO here in Adelaide, he laid the stone of the original school building at Kent Town. The year 1867 was a drought year here in South Australia and the poor harvest impacted on the development of the school and the building actually slowed. The school was finally opened in 1869, initially in Pirie Street because the main building was not completed, but it opened with 28 boys. By the end of that first year, 1869, the school had moved to its current position, the main building was completed and there were 69 boys enrolled plus 20 boarders.

On further reading, although it was a church school established under the Wesleyan traditions, it was determined very early on—and I found this particularly interesting—that the teaching of religion was to be non-sectarian. I think, considering the men and the people who set up this church and the tenets they established the school under, it was particularly forward thinking of them to consider that the teaching of religion should be non-sectarian.

The 1870s saw considerable growth in the school with enrolments continuing to rise. The addition of the said Waterhouse wing to the main building was completed. Interestingly also, in the province of South Australia, there was no government system of compulsory education until 1875. It was in 1875 when discussions began about the relationship between the Wesleyan Conference and the trustees of the school who held the property for committee.

This is where the act of parliament becomes necessary because, as the member for Schubert quite rightly quoted, legal advice was sought during 1876 to, I guess, distinguish this relationship and preclude it from any difficulties going forward. In 1877, it was suggested that the simplest way out of the difficulty would be for Prince Alfred College to become an incorporated body. A subcommittee was appointed to discuss this plan with the lawyers and finally, in 1878, a private bill was passed in the South Australian parliament by which Prince Alfred College became an incorporated body. As the member for Schubert quite rightly pointed out, it defined quite succinctly the terms within which the school was to be governed.

Mention has been made of many famous and renowned old scholars. I will not go through the list that has already been gone through, but I would acknowledge one other who has not yet been acknowledged today. He is sitting here in the chamber with us, and he is Richard Dennis, parliamentary counsel. Richard, I cannot say that I remember you at school. You were way older than me, I am sure.

Mr Venning: His father was a master. He taught me English.

Mr TRELOAR: In fact, Richard's father, 'Argus' Dennis, taught me, the member for Schubert, the member for Kavel and my father. Richard, your father taught my father. So, there you go—a long association.

The member for Norwood spoke about cricket and the four Australian captains Prince Alfred College had produced, most recently Ian and Greg Chappell, previously Joe Darling and Clem Hill. I would just like to highlight and go back a little to Joe Darling. In 1885, he scored 252 in the intercol game with St Peter's. In 1893, Clem Hill made a record 360 not out on the Adelaide Oval in the annual Saints versus Princes intercol game—two fine cricketers, along with the Chappells and all the others who have gone on to play state cricket as well.

One of the highlights of the school for me now is the old scholars association. It has been mentioned already but there is no doubt that—

Mr Venning: The annual dinner!

Mr TRELOAR: The annual dinner is a highlight of the old scholars' year, there is no doubt. The old scholars association hosts smaller dinners in the regions right around the state and, in fact, there is an annual dinner on Eyre Peninsula usually held in Port Lincoln which I certainly try to get to most years. It is a strong association and it is well supported. I understand it is the biggest association of its type in the southern hemisphere and would be rivalled only by similar associations in the North.

Obviously, old scholars have made a significant contribution to this state, but I would like to say that, in my opinion, the school itself has made a contribution to the state—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: —and will for a long time yet, as the member for Bragg says. I would like to finish off with the school motto which in Latin is 'Fac fortia et patere' and translated means 'Do brave deeds and endure.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Will the old scholars please contain themselves?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development) (16:26): It does raise the competitive ire and makes me want to speak about my old alma mater, Henley High, but I will resist the temptation and just thank honourable members for their contribution to the debate. Clearly, many of them strongly identify with the school, not only for themselves but also for their ancestors and, in some cases, those who will come after them. I acknowledge the strong sense of connection that honourable members feel, and I am pleased to offer the support of the government to facilitate this small change to the constitution to assist the college to carry out its functions.

Bill read a second time.

The SPEAKER (16:27): I have examined the Prince Alfred College Incorporation (Variation of Constitution) Amendment Bill. It seeks to amend a private act and, consistent with precedent, is deemed to be a hybrid bill within the meaning of joint standing order (private bills) No. 2.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development) (16:27): I move:

That this bill be referred to a select committee pursuant to joint standing order (private bills) 2.

Motion carried.