The Messages of its Walls and Fields seeks to understand the culture of each decade of the School's development. The focus is on the boys themselves, but Katharine Thornton also evaluates the policies of succeeding Councils of Governors and the achievements of the thirteen Headmasters who have led Saints from 1847 to 2009. The curriculum story is here, the context for advocating sport, the emergence of the external activities of the co-curriculum, the values of a Saints' education, the background to each building project, the economy of the School, drama and the arts, science and new laboratories, the ambience of stone, trees and green lawn at the heart of a Saints' experience.
St Peter's College graduates have made significant contributions to the life of South Australia, in the professions, in social values, in politics, in sport and in the arts. The history of South Australia must include a knowledge of this School. Here it is in twenty chapters and hundreds of illustrations, not just an entertainment for a week but a reliable record for a lifetime.
Katharine Thornton matriculated from St Peter’s Girls School in Adelaide as dux of humanities. She studied history at the University of Adelaide, graduating with a first class honours degree. Her research interests have encompassed the roles of women in Australian history, the French language, the cinema arts, and the consequences of war. St Peter’s College appointed Katharine its School Historian with the objective of researching and writing this book, a task she took up with considerable vigour and acute intelligence. She served as School Historian from 2001 to 2009.
