Wesley College is a co-

residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship wi ...

of 265 students within the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. The college occupies a site on the main campus of the University of Sydney and was built on a sub-grant of

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

. Wesley is one of six on-campus colleges at the University of Sydney which provide accommodation. In 1923 the college averaged 45 students. Originally the college accommodated only men but when women were admitted in 1969 Wesley became the first of the colleges within the University of Sydney to become co-educational. Its current head is Lisa Sutherland, who has held the position since 2010. The college chapel owns a Latin version of the Bible dated to 1479, which may be the oldest bible in Australia. Wesleycollegecamperdown1930s

Buildings

The

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

main wing of Wesley dates from 1917 and was designed by the winner of a competition Byera Hadley (1872–1937), an English-born architect who had emigrated to Australia in 1887. Construction of the design was expected to cost £20,000. The brown face brick and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

building originally consisted of the central wing,

dining room A dining room is a room (architecture), room for eating, consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically ...

, chapel and Master's residence. It has a steep

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof and is topped with a copper

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire *Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique *Flèche (fortification) A flèche ( Fr. for "arrow") is ...

. The interiors are detailed in a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style with polished timber staircases and

wainscotting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...

leadlight Leadlights, leaded lights or leaded windows are decorative windows made of small sections of glass supported in lead cames. The technique of creating windows using glass and lead came to be known as came glasswork. The term 'leadlight' could be ...

windows and

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

ceilings. The chapel was paid for by benefactor

Frederick Cull Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederic ...

. In 1922 the building's original design by Hadley was completed with the opening of the Callaghan Wing.

Alan Dwyer Robert Alan Dwyer (born 5 October 1952) is a former professional English footballer who played as a left-back. He made 180 league appearances for Wrexham in the 1970s and 1980s. Career Dwyer would be discovered by Wrexham's scouting team whil ...

designed the Cecil Purser Wing in 1943 and in 1960

Brewster Murray Brewster may refer to: People *Brewster (surname) *Brewster Kahle (born 1960), American computer technologist *Brewster H. Shaw (born 1945), American astronaut Places *Brewster Park (Enniskillen), Northern Ireland *Brewster (crater), The Moon U ...

added the Wylie Wing. Further extensions were added in 1965 when

Fowell, Mansfield & Maclurcan Joseph Charles Fowell (2 August 1891 – 3 July 1970) was a prominent Australian 20th century architect. Renown for his ecclesiastical architecture, Fowell was primarily responsible for the design of over forty churches in New South Wales and ...

increased the capacity of the chapel and in 1969 when the same firm designed the Tutors Wing.

Student life

Rawson Cup

Every year, Wesley men compete for the

Rawson Cup The Admiral Sir Harry Rawson Cup, commonly known as "The Rawson Cup", was presented to the Sydney University Sports Union in 1906 by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, GCB, KCMG, Governor of New South Wales (1902–1909). The Rawson Cup is the pinnacle of ...

, which was presented to the Sydney University Sports Union in 1906 by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, and is the height of male intercollegiate sport. The cup is fought for throughout the year by men representing each of the University of Sydney colleges accumulating points by competing in cricket, rowing, swimming, rugby, tennis, soccer, basketball and athletics. Wesley has won the Rawson Cup on seven occasions.

Rosebowl Cup

The female sporting trophy, the Rosebowl Cup, has been won by Wesley on more occasions than any other college.

Social calendar

Students are also in charge of organising their own social calendar throughout the year, including sponsor bars, formal dinners, victory dinners, racing days, as well as the annual Informal (for 1200 people with live bands and DJs) and the annual Black Ball.

Masters

* 1916 (acting) Rev W Woolls Rutledge * 1916–1923 Rev

Michael Scott Fletcher M ichaelScott Fletcher (1868–1947) was an Australian Methodist minister, foundation master of King's College, University of Queensland, foundation Master of Wesley College, University of Sydney and held the Chair of Philosophy at the Universi ...

* 1923–1942 Rev Leslie Bennett * 1942–1964 Rev Bertram Wyllie * 1965–1976 Rev Norman Webb * 1977–1983 Rev James Udy * 1984–1996 Rev John Whitehead * 1997–2001 Rev John Evans * 2002–2009 Rev David Russell * 2010–present Lisa Sutherland

Notable alumni

Wesley College Honours board (as at 2019)

Science, medicine, and academia

Dennis A. Ahlburg Dennis Allan Ahlburg is an Australian American economist who is Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritis at Trinity University (Texas), Trinity University where he served as the university's 18th president. Career Before his role with Trinit ...

, academic and university administrator *

Robyn Alders Robyn Gwen Alders AO is the first female veterinary scientist to be made an Officer of the Order of Australia. Dr. Alders is most recognised for her work on food security by improvements in poultry health in developing countries. Alders' work ...

, veterinarian * Allan G. Bromley, computer scientist/historian *

Hedley Bull Hedley Norman Bull (10 June 1932 – 18 May 1985) was Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford until his death from cancer in 1985. He was Montague ...

FBA, Professor of International Relations * Graeme James Caughley, ecologist * Frederick Colin Courtice, Rhodes Scholar and Professor of Pathology * Anna Donald, Rhodes Scholar and pioneer in the field of

evidence-based medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...

Donald William George Donald William George (1926–2014) was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle from 1975 to 1986. Career George was a graduate in Science and Engineering at the University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known a ...

AO, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle * Seth Grant, neuroscientist * Lester Hiatt, anthropologist * Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, biologist and climate scientist *

John Irvine Hunter John Irvine Hunter (24 January 1898 – 10 December 1924)Michael J. Blunt,, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 9, MUP, 1983, pp 408–9. Retrieved 13 August 2009 was an Australian professor of anatomy. Early life and education Hu ...

, anatomist *

Ray Ison Raymond L. (Ray) Ison (born 3 July 1952, Bathurst, NSW, Australia) is an Australian-British cybernetician, systems scholar/scientist, and Professor of Systems at the Open University in the UK. He is currently President of the International Fede ...

, environmental scientist * Keith Jones, surgeon and past president of the Australian Medical Association *

Clifford Kwan-Gett Clifford Stanley Kwan-Gett is an Australian-born Chinese American engineer, physician, and artificial heart pioneer. Kwan-Gett was born as Clifford Gett in 1934 in Emmaville, New South Wales, a small tin mining town in the Australian bush. His fat ...

, pioneer of the artificial heart * John Moulton OAM, former

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

team doctorAustralian Rugby
Retrieved 28 September 2012 *

Tim Murray Timothy Patrick Murray (born June 7, 1968) is an American lawyer and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 71st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2013, when he resigned to become the head of the Worcester Chamber of Com ...

, archaeologist * Gordon Parker, scientia professor of psychiatry at the University of New South Wales *

Stewart Turner John Stewart Turner FAA FRS (11 January 1930 – 3 July 2022) was an Australian geophysicist. Early life Stewart Turner was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University. He then joined the Cloud Physics Group, CSIRO Divisi ...

, geophysicist

Politics, public service, and the law

* Reginald Barrett, Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW *

Rawdon Dalrymple Frederick Rawdon Dalrymple (born 6 November 1930) is a former Australian public servant and diplomat. Dalrymple was born in Sydney and educated at Shore School in North Sydney and the University of Sydney. In 1951, he was selected as the New ...

, Rhodes Scholar and Australian Ambassador to the United States, Japan, Indonesia, and Israel * John Dauth, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Malaysia *

Karin Emerton Karin Leigh Emerton (born 6 May 1957) is a justice of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia. Emerton is a graduate of the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales in Australia, and completed a doct ...

, Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria * Ken Matthews, public servant *

Neville Perkins Neville George Perkins OAM, (born 4 January 1952), is a former Australian politician and public servant. Early life Perkins is the grandson of Hetty Perkins, an Eastern Arrernte elder, and a nephew of Charlie Perkins. He is a descendant of b ...

OAM, Northern Territory Politician and first Indigenous Australian to hold a shadow ministry in an Australian parliament *

Neil Pickard Neil Edward William Pickard (13 February 192913 April 2007) was a New South Wales politician and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of Sir Eric Willis and Nick Greiner. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for 26 years ...

, NSW politician * Walter Cresswell O'Reilly, public servant * John Tierney, Senator for New South Wales *

Greg Urwin Gregory Lawrence Urwin PSM CSI (August 1946 – 9 August 2008) was an Australian career diplomat and top Pacific specialist. Urwin held the post of Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, an important inter-governmental regional orga ...

, Diplomat and Secretary General of the

Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...

* Julie Ward, Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW

Military

Mervyn Brogan Lieutenant General Sir Mervyn Francis Brogan, (10 January 1915 – 8 March 1994) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1971 to 1973. A 1935 graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, w ...

KBE, CB, Chief of Army

Business

* Henry Bosch, businessman * David Johnson, former President and CEO of

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

Royalty

Taufa'ahau Tupou IV George Tupou I (4 December 1797 – 18 February 1893), originally known as Tāufaʻāhau I, was the first king of modern Tonga. He adopted the name Siaosi (originally Jiaoji), the Tongan equivalent of ''George'', after King George III of the U ...

, King of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Arts and humanities

Anna Broinowski Anna Broinowski is a Walkley Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author. Her feature documentaries are ''Forbidden Lie$'', about Chicago hoax author Norma Khouri, cited as one of the best 100 Australian films of the new millennium, ''Aim Hi ...

, filmmaker *

Melissa Beowulf Melissa Beowulf (born 1957) is an Australian artist, specialising in portraiture. She grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to Canberra in the late 1980s, later working between both Woollahra and Canberra. Education Beowulf undertook a mas ...

, portrait artist * Malcolm Brown,

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

journalist and non-fiction writer *

Rob Carlton Rob Carlton (born 4 May 1971) is a Logie Award winning Australian actor and writer. He is best known for writing and starring in the comedy series ''Chandon Pictures''. He also had starring roles in the comedy satire ''The Hollowmen'' and the chi ...

, actor *

Libby Gleeson Libby Gleeson AM (born 1950) is an Australian children's author. Born in Young, New South Wales, she is one of six children, the sister of former ABC TV Washington Correspondent Michael Gleeson, and the mother of ''Home and Away'' actress Je ...

, Children's author *

Milton Osborne Milton Edgeworth Osborne, is an Australian historian, author, and consultant specializing in Southeast Asia. Education Osborne attended North Sydney Boys High School, graduated from the University of Sydney and received his Doctor of Philosophy ...

, historian *

Dolph Lundgren Hans Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker and martial artist. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he starred in ''Rocky IV'' as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, Lu ...

, actor * Frank Walker, Journalist and non-fiction writer

Sports

Talia Barnet-Hepples Talia may refer to: * Talia (given name) * Talia (surname) * Talia, Lebanon, a town * Talia, South Australia, a locality in the District Council of Elliston * Talia Station, a pastoral lease in South Australia * Talia (grape), an alternative name ...

, World champion rower * Adrienne Cahalan, sailor *

Gillian Campbell Gillian Margaret Campbell (born 21 August 1960) is an Australian former representative rower. In the six seasons from 1988 to 1993 she was consistently in the top-tier of Australian heavyweight women scullers winning ten national sculling titles ...

, Olympic rower *

Emma Fessey Emma Fessey (born 5 November 1996) is an Australian national representative rower. She is an Australian champion and was a medallist at the 2018 World Rowing Championships. Club and state rowing Fessey was raised on a cattle and sheep property ...

, Australian Champion rower *

Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sinc ...

, former Wallaby & Journalist * John Langford, Brumbies and Wallabies player * Nick Larkin, cricketer *

Al Kanaar Al Kanaar (born 4 March 1983) is a former Australian Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of ...

, Wallabies & NSW Waratahs rugby player * David Lyons, Wallabies & NSW Waratahs rugby player * Georgina Morgan, Olympic hockey player * Nick Phipps, Wallabies & NSW Waratahs rugby player *

Faye Sultan Faye Sultan AlEssa (Arabic: فيّ سلطان; born 20 October 1994) is a Kuwaiti swimmer who competed in the Women's 50m Freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics as the first female swimmer to represent Kuwait at the olympics. She attended hi ...

, Kuwaiti Olympic Swimmer (exchange student from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

) * John Treloar, Olympic track and field athlete *

Bronwen Watson Bronwe Watson (born 23 February 1977) is an Australian former representative rower. She is a national champion, two-time World Champion and an Olympian. Personal Watson was born in Milton, New South Wales. Her father David is an Olympian, who ...

, Olympic rower

Other

* Winston O'Reilly, Methodist minister *

Anna Rose Anna Rose (born 14 April 1983) is an Australian author, activist and environmentalist. She co-founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) in late 2006 with Amanda McKenzie. In 2012 she co-starred in an ABC documentary, ''I Can Chan ...

, activist and co-founded the

Australian Youth Climate Coalition The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a youth organisation in Australia. When the organisation first began, the coalition consisted of 25 other youth organisations, which included the National Union of Students amongst many, however ...

Gregory Stanton Gregory H. Stanton is the former Research Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention at the George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. He is best known for his work in the area of genocide studies. He is the founder a ...

, founder of Genocide Watch * Ian Stapleton, architect *

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah Dhananjayan Sivaguru ("Danny") Sriskandarajah (born December 1975) is thChief Executiveof Oxfam GB. Until December 2018, he was the Secretary General of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations. Prior to that, Danny was Director ...

, Rhodes Scholar and chief executive of Oxfam *

Keith Suter Keith Douglas Suter (born 1948) is an Australian consultant on strategic planning and a futurist. Suter has achieved three doctorates. The first of these was about the international law of guerrilla warfare (University of Sydney), and the seco ...

, futurist

Rhodes Scholars

* 1923 Ambrose John Foote * 1933 Frederick Colin Courtice * 1952 Rawdon Dalrymple * 1955 Alan Edward Davis * 1970 Greg Houghton * 1989 Anna Donald * 1995 Andrew Robertson * 1996 Stuart Grieve * 1998 Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah * 2000 Annaleise Grummitt * 2004 Nilay Hazari

References

External links

Wesley College Website
{{Authority control Methodism in Australia Residential colleges of the University of Sydney Uniting Church in Australia 1917 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1917