Anglican St Peter's from 1847 gives Adelaide a private collegiate school on elite British public school model

St Peter's College moved to its Hackney site after starting at Trinity School on North Terrace, Adelaide city, in 1847.

St Peter's College originated from wealthier early colonists wanting their sons to have private schools equal to those that they attended in Britain.

They founded the Church of England Collegiate School of South Australia, or “The Collegiate School”, as a proprietary school in 1847 in the schoolroom of Trinity Church on North Terrace, Adelaide city.

The school's foundation was followed by the arrival of the first Anglican Bishop of Adelaide, Augustus Short. Short brought an endowment of £2,000 from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to set up a Church of England school.

Short intended to use the Trinity School as the basis for this new school and his chaplain the Rev. T.P. Wilson became headmaster. He also bought the site in Hackney where the school moved in 1850.

In 1849, Short negotiated with the Trinity School proprietors to set up a council of governors and rededicate it as the Collegiate School of St Peter at Hackney. Headmaster George Farr (1854-79) was credited with raising St Peter’s to follow the standard and model of the great public schools in England.

Three Nobel laureates – Lawrence Bragg, Howard Florey and J. Robin Warren – have been among St Peter’s students. It also produced 10 premiers of Australian colonies/states and 42 Rhodes scholars.

The “Big School Room” was thought to be Australia's oldest classroom still in constant use. The senior school had the bulk of the grounds and most of the historic buildings. To the south were the preparatory school and Palm House (reception-year 2).The college also owned an outdoor education campus in Finniss, near Lake Alexandrina.