Whanganui Collegiate School

Whanganui Collegiate School is one of the country’s oldest secondary schools. In 1852 Governor George Grey and George
Selwyn, Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, sent the Revd Richard Taylor and Donald McLean, the government
land agent, to find a site for an ‘industrial’ school in the new town of Wanganui (then officially known as Petre).
Taylor and McLean decided on a swampy, sandhill-dotted 250-acre site bordering Victoria Avenue, a large
estate intended to support the school with rental income.

The result of an architectural competition won by William Gray Young the college chapel was dedicated in 1912 but completion and furnishing of the Gothic Revival building did not take place until the school's centenary in 1954. The chapel has been strengthened and added to with two side aisles by heritage architect Bruce Dickson to accommodate a larger enrolment of pupils. It contains notable carvings and beautiful stained glass windows, a full pipe organ and choir stalls with lights made from shell casings.