The Academy at Bowenfels

Built and paid for by Andrew Brown Esq., “Cooerwull”; founded in 1882 and gifted to St. Andrew’s College within the University of Sydney in 1883; Cooerwull Academy  was a boys’ boarding school catering to pastoral and rural families as well as the urban and professional elites. It was intended to provide a pathway to St. Andrew’s College, within the University of Sydney, of which Andrew Brown was a foundational Councillor, and the university in general. In this it was successful; in its day sending more students to St. Andrew’s than any other school, and more to university than any other school of its size.

Cooerwull Academy also punched above its weight on the sporting fields, winning many championship medals at G.P.S. events.

The formal affiliation with St. Andrew’s College ended with the academy’s closure in 1916; the end of its material heritage in 1951, with the sale of the Bowenfels buildings and property.

The Present Iteration

Cooerwull Academy (redux 2026) maintains an informal association with St Andrew’s College resuming a presence, albeit in the Cloud(s), February 2025. The Academy’s original core values have been respected and maintained, and newer concepts incorporated from the arts, philosophy, psychology, sociology and the sciences. Its constitution, curriculum and modus operandi have also been updated to align with current and emerging considerations.

It resumption and reanimation after an abeyance of 110 years, has been achieved by Cooerwullians, descendants of Andrew Brown and of past pupils and staff of the Academy at Bowenfels.

The current immaterial “cloud” Academy has been streamlined to eliminate the costs of physical accomodation and unnecessary administration. It was formally constituted on 18 April 2026, the 1434rd anniversary of its being given in trust to the College for education.

An evolving open ended curriculum of questioning, exploration, and critical inquiry, as described in item 8 of the Constitution, is manifested in forms appropriate to the circumstances.