History

Reverend William Henderson opened Ballarat College on Wednesday 6 July 1864 when two seven-year-old cousins presented themselves at his church, St Andrew's Presbyterian. On the following Monday morning they were joined by three other boys to become the first students of the school.

Elizabeth Kennedy, the wife of another Presbyterian minister, came to Ballarat to live and in 1876 she began a cottage school for her children and the daughters of family friends. This was the beginning of what became known as Mrs Kennedy's School for Girls, later to become Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies College.

In 1974 Ballarat College and Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies College formally joined together to become Ballarat & Clarendon College, now associated with the Uniting Church in Australia.

The school history from 1864 to 2004 has been documented in Golden Heritage by Phil Roberts.