St Paul’s College has its origins in the early colonial period.  Its predecessor, St James’s College, Glebe, was founded by Anglican churchmen in 1846 for both lay and theological students.  St James’s was to have been incorporated within the proposed University of Sydney (founded 1850), but its failure led to a new effort and in 1854 a number of Anglicans, led by Chief Justice Sir Alfred Stephen, secured the passage of an Act establishing St Paul’s, as the university’s first college.  It was apparently named after the nearby parish of St Paul’s, Redfern. 

The original sandstone buildings were designed by the ecclesiastical architect, Edmund Blacket, in neo-Gothic style, with a spacious dining hall and an equally impressive quadrangle. As in self-sufficient academic communities of Europe, the students were to live around their own open space.  Though it was not finished until 1999, the great grassed courtyard has been central to College life from the start. 

The first students enrolled in February 1857.  After a slow start, numbers increased from the 1880s.  Meanwhile, St John’s College and St Andrew’s College had opened, and in 1892 the Women’s College, our closest neighbour.  By the beginning of the twentieth century the main traditional features of the Paul’s community had emerged, including a keen collective spirit and various sporting and cultural activities. Debating and public speaking flourished.  The intercollegiate Rawson Cup was established in 1906 by Governor Sir Harry Rawson, whose son was at Paul’s.  The annual magazine, The Pauline, dates from 1910.

Nineteen Old Paulines died in World War I, when the College population was still less than 45.  During and after the War the College was extended, with the completion of what is now Radford and the building of Garnsey wing.  The Oval was also added. 

World War II saw the deaths of 25 former College men. At the end of the war, the Denison wing was built on the north side of the Quad, and in the early 1960s a new courtyard was added to the south (Arnott and Chapel Court).  With the Tower (1966) and the Albert wing (1999), Paul’s now holds about 195 students.  The Chapel (1960), the Mansfield Library (1968) and the Salisbury Bar (1989) together round out the life of the College.

Since the 1990s intellectual and cultural activities have multiplied, under the guidance of the Senior Tutor.  The Senior Common Room has also grown, and the Paul’s community is now a strong mix of senior scholars, graduates and undergraduates, much as the founders intended.  Another sign of the times is the welfare work done by College men on a regular basis, in nearby suburbs and in Papua New Guinea.

Sources: Hamish Milne, “The Origins of St Paul's College” (BA thesis) and “St Paul's College: Another Fifty Years, 1900-1950” (MPhil thesis).

Alan Atkinson, Building Jerusalem: A History of St Paul’s College, University of Sydney (in progress).

Archives and Records

The library and archival collections date back to the 1850s.  The College history is in the process of being written and the author, Professor Alan Atkinson, welcomes any historical material from Old Paulines and others which might help in the work.  He can be contacted through the College office.

The College Arms

The College Arms have been in use from the beginning, but the Grant of Arms dates from 1961, when the Earl Marshall of England authorised the necessary Letters Patent, the design having been affirmed by the College of Heralds.  The Maltese cross is a reminder that St Paul converted Malta to Christianity and is the island’s patron saint.  The crossed swords symbolise his martyrdom in Rome, where he was supposedly beheaded.