A House system was firmly established as a permanent and integral part of School life in 1950 after a number of previous not-so-successful attempts. A boarding house known as School House and three day houses, Buntine, Faulkner and Wilson all named after previous Headmasters were established. In 1961, with the move to Wembley Downs, the School was divided into seven houses: Wilson and Faulkner (boarding houses) and five day houses – Buntine, Haynes, Parry, Riley and Stirling. And then in 1966, Loton House was added as the third boarding house (to revert to a day house in 2005) and in 1992 two additional day houses, Havelock and St Georges.
BUNTINEBuntine House was named after Dr Arnold Buntine, Headmaster of Hale School between 1931 and 1945. He arrived at a time when the Great Depression had reduced School numbers appreciably. It was he, along with the Chairman of the Board, Bill Brine, who instigated the purchase of the land at Wembley Downs. | Faulkner House was named after the Headmaster of the School from 1889 to 1914. Frederick Charles Faulkner came from New Zealand at a time when there were thoughts of closing the School down. Enrolments were around the same as on the first opening day, 28th June 1858. In a little over a year he managed to raise the numbers to 81 and the future of the School was assured. |
At the end of 1992, it was decided to introduce two additional day houses. These were named Havelock and St Georges - after the West Perth site of the School from 1914 through to 1960, and St Georges, after several sites the School occupied in St Georges Terrace during its formative years, from 1858 through to the mid-1880s. | Haynes House was named after E.Y. ‘Paddy’ Haynes who re-started Bishop’s School (Hale) after it closed down temporarily in 1862. When the High School began operations in 1878 he marched his boys across St George’s Terrace to join the new fraternity, staying on as 2nd master. |
![]() LOTONLoton House, first opened as a boarding house in 1966 - became the eighth day house.Loton House was named in honour of Sir Thorley Loton, Chairman of the Hale School Board of Governors, 1947-56. His sons and grandsons have attended the School. | PARRYParry House was named after the Dr Henry Hutton Parry, 2ndBishop of Perth, 1876-93, Chairman of the Board of Governors and benefactor of the School. Many of his descendants have attended the School. |
Riley House was named after Charles Owen Leaver Riley, Bishop of Perth, 1895-1914; Archbishop, 1914-1929, Chairman of the Hale School Board of Governors. He had three sons attend the School - C.L. (‘Tom’), later Bishop of Bendigo, Eric and Frank (the 1912 Rhodes Scholar for Western Australia). Riley (senior) and his sons all attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, the campus featured in the opening scenes of the film, ‘Chariots of Fire.’ | At the end of 1992, it was decided to introduce two additional day houses. These were named Havelock and St Georges - after the West Perth site of the School from 1914 through to 1960, and St Georges, after several sites the School occupied in St Georges Terrace during its formative years, from 1858 through to the mid-1880s. |
In 1988, with the retirement of Dr Ken Tregonning as Headmaster, the name of Stirling House was changed to Tregonning House.The Tregonning crest displays in graphic form (clockwise) the career of Ken Tregonning – his undergraduate years at Adelaide University (top right), his time at New College, Oxford and his appointment as Raffles Professor of History at the University of Singapore, before returning to Perth to take up the Headmastership of Hale School in 1967. The motto, ‘Always Challenge’ was his own choice for the boys of the House which bears his name. | The Wilson House crest, not designed and implemented until 1995-6, denotes Mathew Wilson’s connection with Melbourne Grammar School, his membership/captaincy of the Essendon Football Club and his under-graduate period at Melbourne University. The bridge and the motto, ‘To Strive, To Seek, to Find’ are taken from Alfred Tennyson’s poem, ‘Ulysses’, denoting life’s endeavour. Wilson was Headmaster from 1915 to 1928. |
BRINE HOUSEThe Junior boarding house, is named after a Chairman of the Board of Governors, Bill Brine. It was he who negotiated the sale of the Wembley Downs site in 1939.The crest was adopted in 2007. The crest denotes Bill Brine’s scholastic career, his appointment as the President of the Master Builders’ Association of Australia (Winthrop Hall at the University of W.A. and the State War Memorial in Kings Park two of his notable projects); the rising sun denotes the start of life’s pursuits by the boys in Brine House. The motto ‘Firm Foundations’ exemplifies the caring aspects of the House. |
THE JUNIOR SCHOOL
The four Hale Junior School Houses are named after Haleian Rhodes Scholars; Thomas Arthur Lewis (Taddy) Davy, Stanley Bruce (Bruce) Rosier, Alexander Phipps (Phipps) Turnbull and James Leonard Walker.The symbols within the crests, moving clockwise, display in graphical form the main features of the lives of these four Haleian Rhodes Scholars. The crests follow the ancient heraldic tradition of display on the battlefield, in churches and assembly halls, to signal to their adherents the presence and influence of the person or body represented.
![]() The four symbols in the Davy crest display, in graphical form, the story of ‘Taddy’ Davy’s outstanding life and career. Davy, while President of the High [Hale] School Old Boys’ Association in 1924, proposed that the name of the School should be changed to Hale. It was he who carried the proposition, even guiding it through parliament to fulfilment in 1929. In sequence on the shield, from the top and then left and continuing clockwise:
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