Hale School - Definition and Overview

Hale School is the oldest boys’ school in Western Australia. An intrinsic part of the State's history, the school was founded in 1858 by the first Anglican Bishop of Perth, Dr. Mathew Blagden Hale, a Cambridge alumnus, clergyman, educator, and social pioneer. Modelled after England's public schools, it was then known as "The Bishop’s Collegiate School".

The first campus was established at The Cloisters, St George’s Terrace, in Perth. In 1914 the School (which was called "The High School" between 1878 and 1929), moved to a more spacious site at Havelock Street, within walking distance of the Western Australian Houses of Parliament. In 1961, having acquired the name Hale School in 1929, it moved to Wembley Downs, where it is currently situated on a 48 hectare site, north-west of Perth.

Hale School is an Anglican day and boarding school. It is constituted under the Hale School Act of the Western Australian Parliament. This Act provides that the governance of the School shall be in the hands of 11 Governors, of whom five shall be appointed by the Diocesan Trustees of the Anglican Church, and five shall be appointed by The Old Haleians' Association, all being appointed for a five-year term. The Act further provides that his Grace the Anglican Archbishop of Perth shall be a Governor.

Some prominent Old Haleians include (this list is not exhaustive):

• The Rt. Hon. The Lord Forrest of Bunbury, the first Premier of Western Australia and the nation's first peer;
• Langley George Hancock, cousin of Air Marshall Sir Valston Hancock, mining tycoon, co-discoverer of the Pilbara iron ore deposits and founder of the separatist, right-wing WA First Party;
• Peter Wright, co-discoverer of the Pilbara iron ore deposits;
• The Hon. Richard Court, another former Premier of Western Australia;
• Todd Pearson, sportsman and Olympics gold-medalist.