WELCOME HOME COLLEGE BELL

Last year, the original College Bell underwent restoration and recommissioning and is now set to be permanently showcased in the new Centre for Learning and Innovation. Nicky Boynton-Bricknell sheds light on the fascinating origins of the bell.

NICKY BOYNTONBRICKNELL

Old Scholar

with thanks to Rev David Stolz

The College Bell, a 160-year-old bell, was smartened up and recommissioned last year. It garnered more attention than ever before during its years as the one and only College Bell, when every 2022 Year 12 student rang the bell in the Chapel forecourt as part of their graduation celebrations.

The bell has a long and interesting history. It travelled from Germany in the 1870s when German families fled their homeland because of religious persecution. One of three bells, each with its unique tone, it belonged to the Benfer family who, alongside the Heinemanns and Holzapfels, settled in Mt Cotton to begin farming. The bells were put into service on each farm to summon labourers for meals and to mark the beginning and end of each workday.

On 24 May 1945, the Benfer family presented the bell to the fledgling St Peters Lutheran College to call the students to meals and for assemblies in Ross Roy.

The bell started College service suspended from the fork of a pine tree near Ross Roy until it was blown down in a storm. It was then attached to a cross beam from one corner of the Ross Roy western verandah. As the College expanded, the bell was moved to a new location outside Headmaster Wilfred Schneider’s office, next to the dining hall.

There it hung and rang faithfully until Theile House was erected and the bell was moved to the eastern end of Luther House. In the early 1970s, when the bell was nudging one hundred years of age, it was retired and replaced by a modern electric bell. Stored in an unlocked shed it disappeared until well into the 2020s. The mystery of its disappearance was attributed to a group of Old Scholars who were purported to have stolen the bell and later returned it. The truth behind this remains unknown.

Today, the bell resides in Ross Roy and there are plans to permanently display it in the foyer of the new Centre for Learning and Innovation where it can be viewed and appreciated by the College community.