The Friends' School, Hobart is an independent, co-educational, Quaker, day and boarding school, located in North Hobart, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.Founded in 1887 by Quakers, the school currently caters for approximately 1330 students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12, including 47 boarders from Years 7 10 12. It is the largest Quaker school in the world, and the only Quaker school in the southern hemisphere.Friends' is affiliated with the Association of Independent Schools of Tasmania (AIST), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and is a member of the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS).HistoryThe Friends' School opened at 60-62 Warwick Street, Hobart (the building still stands) on 31 January 1887 under the control of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It was opened by Samuel Clemes. The initial enrolment of 33 expanded so rapidly that the School moved to its present site in Commercial Road on 28 January 1889, a move made possible by the generous loan of A$4,000 from Hobart Baptists. The first headmaster was Samuel Clemes, considered to be a remarkable reformer in education for his belief in co-education. In 1900 he resigned and set up his own family school, Leslie House, (later renamed Clemes College) in Pirie Street and then at Boa Vista, Argyle Street, where Morris Friends' Primary Years (Junior School) and Clemes (Years 11-12) are now located. Clemes College and The Friends' School came together in 1946.
- Category:
- School