Celebrating our Centenary
After careful planning that began in 1920, St Mark’s College was officially opened on 15 March 1925.
In 2025, the College is celebrating its Centenary.
Preparation for the Centenary involves:
- preparing for major events to mark the Centenary, including on the 100th anniversary of the official opening (Saturday 15 March 2025)
- recommitting to upholding the values for which the College stands
- commissioning a Centenary history
- preparing for Centenary memorabilia which will be available in 2025
- marking the anniversaries of landmark events on the path to the founding of the College in 1925
- developing a new strategic plan for the College, "Towards our second century: a strategy for St Mark's College", and
- preparing for a Centenary fundraising campaign, including working to support all students who need it through a major expansion of scholarships.
To help to involve Old Collegians and friends of the College in the Centenary, the College has appointed Ms Karin Dunsford as Director of Centenary Engagement. There’s information about Karin here. She may be contacted by email here or on (08) 8334 5600.
To ensure you receive invitations to Centenary events and other news, please update your contact details here.
Centenary events
A program of exciting events for 2025 is being planned to celebrate our Centenary!
All members of the St Mark’s community are welcome at Centenary events – current and Old Collegians and their family members and friends, friends of the College, our generous donors, past and current parents, descendants of founders and of past Collegians, past and present staff, and more!
Key events in 2025 are:
Gala Centenary Weekend, 14-16 March 2025:
Friday 14 March – Welcome drinks at the Queen’s Head, 5-7.30pm
Saturday 15 March – tours of the College
Saturday 15 March – Centenary Gala Dinner – simply not to be missed!
Sunday 16 March – a long Sunday Brunch at the College, 10am-3pm
Sunday 4 May – Founders’ Day afternoon tea and Evensong
Thursday 5 June - Centenary Giving Day
Later in 2025:
- launch of the Centenary history written by Associate Professor Paul Sendziuk and Dr Carolyn Collins
- the J C Bannon Oration on “St Mark’s and law, politics, and history” by our Centenary historians, and
- Centenary Thank You Drinks on Tuesday 2 December.
Further details of Centenary events will be announced later this year.
Tickets for the Centenary Gala Dinner will go on sale in September 2024.
All are warmly welcome!
Table captains
If you would like to be a table captain for the Gala Dinner, our Director of Centenary Engagement, Karin Dunsford, would be delighted to hear from you. Email her here, or ring the College on (08) 8334 5600.
Accommodation
If you are travelling from the country, interstate, or overseas for the Gala Weekend and seeking accommodation, the Oval Hotel has put aside rooms especially for the St Mark’s community. The hotel is conveniently located near the Convention Centre, the venue for the Gala Dinner, and near the College. Bookings at a special discounted rate can be made here.
Upholding our values
In marking our Centenary, we also recommit to upholding the values for which the College stands, including academic excellence, respect and dignity for all, and community service.
Read more about the College’s values and our work to uphold them here.
Centenary history
A Centenary history has been commissioned, to cover the College’s first 100 years.
It is being researched and written by two highly regarded historians from the University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Paul Sendziuk and Dr Carolyn Collins. More details of the Centenary historians are here.
The history will be published in mid-2025, and details of the launch and how to order the history will be posted here later in 2024.
Centenary memorabilia
As well as the Centenary history, a number of items of memorabilia and merchandise for the Centenary are being planned.
These will be available in the Centenary year, and details will be posted here.
Marking milestones on the road to our Centenary
The 100th anniversaries of significant steps towards the creation of the College – such as its affiliation with the University of Adelaide in October 1924 – are also being marked along the way. Some of these steps are recorded on the timeline of the College’s history here.
- In 2020, the College marked the centenary of the creation in September 1920 by the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide of a committee to consider creating a college for students of the University of Adelaide. This committee helped to shape what became St Mark’s College.
- In December 2021, the College marked the 100th anniversary of the formal conference at St Peter’s College, chaired by Canon Julian Bickersteth, which made the decision to establish a university residential college in Adelaide.
- On 16 March 2023, the College marked the 100th anniversary of the decision by the organising committee on 16 March 1923 to buy Downer House and adjacent land to create a college, and the finalising of the constitution for the college. The funds then needed to be raised urgently to enable the purchase of these first college properties. Thanks to the great generosity, vision, and efforts of our founders, St Mark’s College was opened by the Governor almost exactly two years later, on 15 March 1925.
Some of the visionary documents produced by the founders, and portraits of several of the College’s founders, can be found here.
Each year, the College honours its founders with a Founders’ Day service, normally on the Sunday after Anzac Day (in 2025, on Sunday 4 May).
In 2022, the College celebrated the 40th anniversary of co-education at St Mark’s, including with online profiles of many remarkable St Mark’s women. Details are here.
Centenary fundraising campaign
As well as meeting other important College needs, St Mark’s is committed to working to support all students who need it, and to promote excellence and diversity, through a major expansion of scholarships and other financial support for students.
This will be a centrepiece of a Centenary fundraising campaign, including the Centenary Giving Day on Thursday 5 June 2025.
If you would like to join in supporting scholarships for students, or to meet other College needs, click here.
Please join us in celebrating the Centenary of the College!
