The Roar - Issue 28 Term 3 2026

From the All Saints’ College and Marsden Archives

The early days: 1874-1919, before the temporary closure

We have been working on a student register listing all students recorded who have attended All Saints’ College from the first day the school opened in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Keppel St., on 27 January 1874, with Mr Henry Kemmis as principal. His assistant masters were his two sons, Arthur and William Henry, and Mr W.H. Briscoe Carroll. Seven boys attended the school on opening day: C.G. Wade (afterwards P. Premier of NSW), L.A.B. Wade, T.B.U. Sloman, H.H. Oakes, P.S. Oakes, Cecil Dargin and A. Tanner.

During Mr Kemmis’ headmastership the school grew in numbers and prestige, and a list of Kemmis pupils divided into town and country boys between 1874 and 1877 recorded 43 Town boys and 32 Country boys. Most of the boys attending the School in Kemmis’ time were the sons of parents engaged in pastoral occupations who looked forward to following the same careers as their fathers, while a few were preparing for a professional or commercial calling.

When the second headmaster, Edwin Bean, came in 1878, there were 17 boys enrolled, and immediately Bean spent his holidays travelling around the district to encourage parents to enrol their boys to benefit from a school education with a first-rate staff. By the middle of 1878 attendance had almost doubled and by the end of the year 61 boys were enrolled. The numbers between 1880 and 1886 continued to grow, and All Saints’ “reached the zenith of its prestige and prosperity. It was the best-known Anglican school in the west … as well as having a large Sydney connection.”

Rev. Frederick Tracey, the third headmaster, held tenure from 1889 to 1898, and during that time the school flourished, with attendance almost the largest in its history. More school buildings were erected, sporting activities were at their heyday, a larger number of candidates matriculated, the curriculum was extended, and the Old Boys’ Union was established. This was important for enrolments as Old Boys were encouraged to send their sons to their alumnus.

The fourth headmaster, Herbert Edward Britten, appointed in 1898, was at the time senior master and for ten years had been a member of staff, having served under both the previous headmasters. Britten’s period of headmastership saw a fluctuation in numbers with a series of epidemics, a severe drought and the tendency for some parents in the West to treat All Saints’ as a large preparatory school and send their boys on to finish their education at Sydney schools. Despite these setbacks, the College continued to make good progress, doing well in public examinations, producing many fine sportsmen in cricket and football; the preparatory school was again established, and with the outbreak of the South African War the cadet corps was revived.

When the fifth headmaster, George Sydney Stiles, came as headmaster in 1911, there had been a considerable decrease in school attendance, so to enlist support Mr Stiles toured the outback Western districts to get into personal touch with families of the Anglican communities and invite them to send their sons to the College. In six months, he was able to double enrolments. In the years from 1913 to 1919, attendance fluctuated between 45 and 50 and during the last two years of the war, constant changes of staff who enlisted; competition with State education more acute; the influenza epidemic; high costs of maintenance; financial stress, that by the end of 1918, unless greater support and more enrolments it would be impossible to carry on after June 1919.

The Great War is an event of crucial importance in the history of All Saints’ College, bringing it great distinction through the achievements of its Old Boys, but also tragedy, not only in the loss of many splendid sons, but in the effect of the crises upon the College itself. Over 200 Old Boys or members of staff served with the British or Australian forces. The student register will list many names that have figured prominently in the College’s history, and many more who continue to do so.

Mr Stiles worked with great energy in the last years of steady decline, but due to a lack of staff and a decline in numbers, on 30 June 1919, simultaneously with the headmaster’s resignation, the College was temporarily closed and the site and buildings purchased by the Government in October 1919, for a High School in Bathurst.

Mrs Memory Sanders
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