The picture depicts a group of young men who were attending the Kings College in Goulburn.

The photo dates from the 1890’s.

The boys are sitting outside the building, which is an E.C Manfred design and is still there in Combermere St, sitting straight behind the Hill View Motel on the corner of Cowper and Combermere Streets. 

It originally faced Cowper St with a long front garden, but the garden space is now occupied by the motel and a group of several flats.

King's College was founded by Edgar W Kelso in 1888, previously a resident master at Scott’s College, Melbourne.

The school began in the large building of Carawarra on the corner of Cowper and Bradley Streets and operated there for about a year.

In 1889, the school moved to the purpose built building on the corner of Combermere and Cowper St, which was called Yass Road back then.

In ran as an educational institution for about 40 years, until 1920.

In 1890, the school boasted 22 boarders and 30 day students. 

“Over the years, the college became widely known for the excellence of education it offered,” wrote the late Stephen Tazewelll, OAM in a story about the school in the Goulburn Post in 1989.

“How many of the present generation passing by would ever imagine that this humble old 1889 building was once the seat of the some of the best learning our nation had to offer.” 

There was a large house on the corner that was originally the Gold Diggers Inn and served as the school residence. It was knocked down to make way for the present motel.

Most of the area around the school in those days was vacant land as it had been reserved for cattle yards in 1871, but never used for that purpose. 

The college produced fine cricket teams, and cricket pitches on this adjacent land were found right up until the 1930’s, when the land was sub-divided. 

In The Pioneering Days of the Sunny South, Charles McAlister wrote: “As evidencing the high standard of Kings, it is recorded that during those 20 years only two students failed to matriculate.” 

“The annual reunion of the alumni of Kings past and present is a chief social function in scholastic world of Goulburn.” 

The closing of the college in 1920 was brought about by financial difficulties. 

The beautiful iron ridge cresting on the roof is still visible, as is the year 1889 on the front gable.