The Scots College is deeply honoured to have His Royal Highness, The Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh KG GCVO unveil the Foundation Stone for the John Cunningham Student Centre on Tuesday 21 November 2023.
It is truly a momentous occasion for Scots that His Royal Highness has assisted in marking this important milestone in the history of the College. It brings together the aspiration and vision of this building to be a place of support for all students, with the wonderful benefits of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, through which so many Scots students undertake and develop lifelong skills of adventure and service.
The John Cunningham Student Centre was first conceptualised in the College’s 2013-2023 Master Plan to replace the Stevenson Library building. What was a brutalist concrete structure is replaced by a landmark building, built to reflect the Scottish baronial style, a distinctly Scottish building for a school that draws its inspiration and heritage from Scotland.
With the generosity of our majority donor, Mr John W Cunningham, AM SCM (’50), our vision for the John Cunningham Student Centre is far more than an impressive building. Housed within it are learning spaces and spaces for students to meet and learn together. This allows for the normalisation of counselling and other support services to ensure that all students receive the proactive resources that they need to be not just a student, but to flourish and thrive and graduate as fine young men.
Our Majority Donor
Mr John W Cunningham AM SCM (’50) graduated from The Scots College in 1950 and was a member of
the 1st XV Rugby, Senior Swimming Champion and Cadet Lieutenant.
He commenced in 1943 at the Preparatory School, where he was Senior Swimming Champion, and a member of the 1st XV Rugby and 1st XI Cricket teams. In 1951, he was a gold medallist at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships in Perth where he also represented Australia against South Africa.
He later graduated with a Master of Arts from The University of Sydney following a Bachelor of Arts from
the University of New England. He had a distinguished business career before opening his own management consultancy which dealt with over 250 corporations, government bodies and universities. He also served as Honorary Consul General of Barbados in Australia for over 30 years for which he was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit for services to the Commonwealth by Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II. He then became a successful investor and has devoted his life to multiple philanthropic causes for which he was made a Member of the Order of Australia.
He and his wife Mrs Margaret Cunningham OAM established the JW & M Cunningham Foundation at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney to specifically support Mental Health, Cardiology, Urology, Neurosciences, Fragile X, hospital equipment and the Cunningham Fellows program. His Cunningham Cares mantra has been based on ‘helping those who need help’ and ‘lifting people to the surface’.
