Pulteney Grammar School

In May 1847, a group of founding trustees met in Adelaide in order to discuss the establishment of a new school for the children of Adelaide. Twelve months later, on 29 May 1848, the new institution Pulteney Street School was opened. The school was established in the Anglican tradition, which continues to this day, though it admitted students of all denominations and children from non-Christian faiths. It began operating shortly after St Peter's College was founded (and, years before that, that fellow Anglican establishment moved to its present location in Hackney). The Pulteney Street School was clearly aimed at a different demographic, having a monthly charge of 2/6d per month for each pupil, deemed "a rate which the poorest can surely afford to pay for the education of their children".[4] The school had 50 attendees by the end of its first week of operation, and 180 by October 1848. Classes were taken at a newly constructed 30 by 60 feet (9.1 by 18.3 m) building at the corner of Pulteney and Flinders streets, boys and girls being taught separately; the girls' classes ceasing around 1854.

21 principals have governed the school, the first being E. K. Miller, who served from 1848 to 1851, before being replaced by several of even shorter duration, during which the school's title became Pulteney Street Central Schools.[5] More durable Principals, (W. S. Moore, 24 years in office, W. P. Nicholls, 41 years, and W. R. Ray, 26 years), led Pulteney to become an esteemed educational institution, with its traditional competitors including Scotch College, Prince Alfred College, and St Peter's College. The first female Principal, Anne Dunstan, took office in 2014.[6]

In 1919 the old building was acquired by the Commonwealth Government for repatriation purposes,[7] and the school was required to move to its current premises on South Terrace, where a new building, now called the Nicholls Building, was opened by Lord Forster, then Governor-General, in July 1921. The school's move heralded the change in its name to its current form, and also brought financial uncertainty to the board of governors, who elected W. R. Ray in 1946 to attempt to bring the school back onto its feet.

By 1953, Pulteney Grammar School offered a full education for boys, beginning in what is now called 'reception', until 'Leaving Honours' (Year 12).[8]

The school changed its structure from an all-boys day-school to admit students of both genders in 1999.

• Charles Ashwin, 1952. Rhodes Scholar for South Australia.[10]
• Peter Gibbard, 1991. Rhodes Scholar for South Australia.[10]
• Mark Mussared, 1976. Rhodes Scholar for South Australia.[10]
• John Pritchard, 1935. Rhodes Scholar for South Australia.[10]
• Simon Best, 1973. Rhodes Scholar for South Australia.[10]

• John Gardner MP, Minister for Education (2018–present), Member for Morialta (2010–present)
• Stephen Mullighan MP, Minister for Transport & Infrastructure (2014 - 2018), Member for Lee (2014–present)
• Ted Mullighan, died 2011, QC and former Supreme Court Judge[11]
• The Hon. John Sulan, Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia[12]
• Sir Frederick William Holder KCMG, 19th Premier of South Australia, prominent member of inaugural Commonwealth Parliament, first Speaker of the House of Representatives
• John Darling Jr. MP, company director and politician, Member for East Torrens 1896–1902, Member for Torrens 1902-1905
• Ian Haig AM (1935–2014), diplomat and business leader[13]

• Ernest Robert Beech, emeritus consultant physician of the Royal Perth Hospital[14]
• Wyatt 'Rory' Hume, pharmacologist, former vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales, and Provost of the United Arab Emirates University[15]
• Sir Leonard Ross Mallen, died 1980, Federal councillor of the Australian Medical Association[16][17]
• Brendon Coventry, discovered the immune cycle, cancer pioneer
• Richard Sanders Rogers, medical pioneer, and authority on Australian orchids

Pulteney Old Scholar and surgical oncologist, immunologist and medical researcher, Professor Brendon Coventry

• Arthur Seaforth Blackburn VC, soldier and lawyer; Winner of the Victoria Cross[18]

Brigadier Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, VC was a Pulteney Old Scholar who served in the First and Second World Wars and was a prisoner of war; he subsequently had a distinguished legal career

• Colonel Walter Dollman VD, a Pulteney "old boy" and president of the Old Scholars Assoc., was commander of the 27th Battalion that saw service in Egypt, Gallipoli and in the Somme.
• David Kenney, flight lieutenant, awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross,[19]
• Brigadier General Stanley Price Weir, DSO, VD, JP (1866-1944), public servant and Australian Army officer

• Lloyd Pope, Under 19 Australian Cricketer.
• Bruce Abernethy, former AFL player and sports news reader.
• Josh Francou, player for North Adelaide Roosters(SANFL) and Port Adelaide Football Club(AFL) Australian rules football clubs.
• Jordan McMahon, current player in the AFL for the Richmond Tigers.
• Andrew Leipus, sports physiotherapist
• Maurice P. Hutton, died 1940, cricketer and footballer[20]
• Harry Blinman, famous South Australian cricketer and former President of the South Australian Cricket Association
• Michael Aish, Magarey Medal winner 1981

• Peter Dawson, internationally acclaimed bass-baritone and songwriter
• Harold Thomas, first Aboriginal student of Pulteney, and designer of the Australian Aboriginal Flag[21]
• Sean Williams, science fiction author
• Lewis Fitz-Gerald, actor.
• Jeffrey Smart, expatriate Australian artist of the Precisionist movement. Smart's works today return prices in excess of AUD$1,000,000 at auctions worldwide.[22] He is a disciple of Adelaide artist Dorrit Black.
• Lesley Kirkman Meller, died 1962, South Australian writer[23]
• Michael Burden, Fellow in Music, Dean and Chattels Fellow at New College, Oxford, also Director of New Chamber Opera, and Professor of Opera Studies in the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford[24]
• Keith Phillips, photographer, Official Photographer of University of Adelaide[25][26]
• Rhett Giles, Actor (Stage/Film) and Producer[27]

• Joseph Albert Riley, (1869-1940), prominent Adelaide businessman, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, philanthropist, notably awarded the King Albert Medal for services in the Great War[28]
• Colin Blore Bednall, journalist and media manager, Editor and Director of Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd.[29]
• Oscar Lionel Isaachsen, banker[30]
• Alan Scott Martin, died 1958, former Assistant Chief Valuer of the Land Tax Department, and former member of the Australian Land Board[31]

• Jed Richards, author of 'One Long Day'[32]