By Lucy Carroll
A legal showdown over Newington College’s controversial move to go co-ed has centred on the definition of the word “youth” from 152 years ago as lawyers clash over whether it was intended to mean only boys and young men.
Late last year, a current Newington student launched action in the NSW Supreme Court, arguing that the boys’ private school breached terms of the college’s 19th-century charitable trust by implementing its plan to admit girls from next year.
Newington College announced to parents in 2023 it would become fully co-educational by the end of the decade.Credit: Louie Douvis
The 162-year-old inner west college unveiled its plan to become fully co-ed in a letter to parents in November 2023. The decision sparked intense backlash and protests from parents and anti-coed alumni who have spent months lobbying to have the decision reversed.
In a long-awaited hearing on Thursday, before Justice Guy Parker, lawyers for the plaintiff argued the word “youth” in the school’s October 1873 original deed of indenture was limited to the education and advancement of boys.
A statement of claim, filed by the student last year, states that the original deed references the property held in trust and establishment of Newington College as being for the provision of “an efficient course of education for youth”.
The boy who launched proceedings – known as student A – cannot be identified after he obtained a non-publication order based upon a psychiatrist’s report that said he could be bullied or shunned if his identity was to become known.
Noel Hutley, SC, acting for Newington College council, heads to court on Thursday.Credit: Janie Barrett
On Thursday, the court was shown numerous 19th-century documents outlining the use of the historic use of the word youth, including dictionary definitions, Newington meeting minutes and Sydney Morning Herald articles from 1863 and 1872.
Noel Hutley, SC, acting for Newington’s council, said the 19th-century meaning of youth is a collective noun for young men and women. “The ordinary meaning of youth as a collective is gender-neutral,” Hutley said.
“We submit that the Oxford English Dictionary clearly points to youth having a predominantly non-gendered meaning. The meaning of the collective noun youth has been constant in all dictionaries from 1848 through to today’s date. We say that is a powerful indicator as to what the ordinary meaning was.”
Hutley asserted the Oxford English Dictionary definition was “most authoritative”, arguing that the word youth was chosen in the deed to “cover whatever possibilities might be decided upon”.
Michael Izzo is the plaintiff counsel fighting Newington College’s decision.Credit: Janie Barrett
Newington was founded in 1863 as a result of the growing view in the Wesleyan Methodist Church that an institution higher than elementary school was needed in Sydney, the school’s website states. The school opened in Silverwater, then moved to Stanmore in 1880.
Michael Izzo, SC, acting for the opponents of co-ed, succeeded in having about 490 historic newspaper articles provisionally admitted into evidence.
“This does not need to be resolved as a battle of the dictionaries,” Izzo told the court. “But it is at least one possibility that youth when used in particular context is being used to refer to men alone.”
Izzo referenced a Barclay’s 1808 dictionary containing a definition of youth as being “the part of life which is between childhood and manhood”, from adolescence to young man.
“There are occasions where someone uses the word youth where someone understands that word to mean ‘young man’ alone,” he said. Izzo also asserted that “it is equally possible, because you’ve got more dictionaries, that it doesn’t refer to young men alone.”
“One thing that is clear that at this time higher education in the sense of secondary education was avowedly single sex. An important point is the school … was a step on the way to university.”
Hutley, acting for Newington, said while the school at Silverwater was set up for boys’ education, the 1873 deed purposely included the word “youth” when it moved to Stanmore. “What’s to be created by this indenture is a new trust with a new body which has new powers to conduct the school, and the old school is discontinued,” he argued.
He submitted the use of “youth” was non-gendered and that the 1873 deed chose “youth as empowering the scope of possible operation”.
In a letter to parents this week, Newington’s chief operating officer, Ross Xenos, said the court proceedings had been brought forward to a one-day hearing on Thursday, after they were initially scheduled over two days.
“It may be several weeks before any decision is made by the court,” Xenos said.
Despite the prospect of multiple legal challenges – a possible class action in the Federal Court was flagged by parents last year – the school is forging ahead with $110 million in major building upgrades ahead of the co-ed transition.
The school is proposing a four-storey teaching and learning building, upgrades to its Centenary Hall and a performing arts theatre and sports court to allow for girls to be enrolled from next year.
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