Kambala was established in 1887 as an independent Anglican school for girls. It was founded by Miss Louisa Gurney, with just 12 students in attendance in the beginning.
Originally located in Woollahra’s Fernbank terrace house, the school relocated to Bellevue Hill in 1891 under the leadership of Mademoiselle Augustine Soubeiran to accommodate its growing student body. The school settled into its present location at New South Head Road in Rose Bay in 1913.
1899 saw the beginning of our relationship with what was then known as the ‘Kambala Ladies’ School’, with the welcome donation of clothing (‘40 frocks’) and £1 5s for a Christmas tree by the ‘pupils of Miss Gurney of Kambala, Bellevue Hill’. Over subsequent years Kambala students made clothes for the children and donated items such as petticoats, pinafores, cot covers and dolls and other toys.
The Kambala Old Girls’ Union (KOGU) also made regular annual cash donations to The Infants’ Home, and for many years from 1908, they donated annually to a Cot Fund called the ‘Gurney-Soubeiran Cot’, in honour of the school’s earliest principals.
By the 1950s, when Miss Fifi Hawthorne was head mistress, Kambala hosted dances to raise money for the annual Cot Fund Endowment.
In the 1950s children’s parties were hosted for our children at the original Massie House on Coolong Road, where toys were presented to the children in attendance.
An excerpt from The Infants’ Home’s 1908 Annual Report says: ‘Occasionally the elder children are invited to real “parties” which are a great source of pleasure for long before and after the great event. Miss Gurney, and her pupils at Kambala, entertained a large number, when nothing which could have been done to give pleasure was left undone. Miss Gurney’s pupils even found time amid their school work to make very nicely a number of little red frocks, which they presented on that occasion.’
Many of Kambala’s school principals have made donations to The Infants’ Home from their own pockets over the years, and KOGU continues to give regular donations to us to this day.
This enduring partnership will continue in 2025, with Kambala participating in our ‘School Friends of The Infants’ Home’ fundraising campaign to build an outdoor classroom at our Ashfield site—a unique space that will enhance children’s learning through creativity, play, and nature.
We are so grateful for the generous support we have received from Kambala and KOGU for over 125 years.
From left: Kambala student Daisy Kirton, KOGU Alumnae Relations Manager Donna Kelly-Smith and KOGU President Amanda Kirton attended our 150th Anniversary Year launch celebration in May 2024.