Earle Page College is a residential college of the University of New England located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The college accommodates roughly 300 students.
History
The college is named after Dr Earle Christmas Grafton Page, who was the first Chancellor of the University of New England in 1954. It originated in 1963 as an all-male set of houses in town. Most Page students who were living in town had to travel to the campus for all meals by public transport. After its opening, students slowly moved into the current buildings. EPC began as an all-male college; however, females have been admitted since 1973.
Memorable college events
1963 - Earle Page College was opened as a men's college
1967 - The motto of the college, "Each Prove Himself", was created. 1968 - First "Iskra" published. 1972 - A referendum was held in the college to decide whether the college should become a co-educational. The referendum was passed. 1973 - The first year women where admitted to college. 1981 - The last year freshers were required to do 'phone duty' from the single line entering college. The phone was operated by freshers who patched the calls to students on other floors. Later that year phones were installed on all floors. 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria for which some freshers did a 'wall sit' on their floor to raise money to send to victims. 1986 - Due to a huge intake for the University, over 100 students were housed in motels and hotels for most of first semester, and every available space in college was used - common rooms were separated into two section to house more members. The students living in town were brought to college for breakfast and dinner in buses, and paid the same amount as people living in college; Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended politics dinner. 1987 - D-Block, a block generally reserved for post grad students, overseas students and mature age students, was opened to the general college population. 1996 - Earle Page had so few residents they closed down D-Block for the year. 1997 - There was a bomb scare at Politics Dinner, which turned out to be a prank. 1999 - The College won both the Mary Bagnall and Presidents Trophy sporting competitions. 2001 - Two residents (Mary Jones & Tamar Scobie) were killed in a car accident in May and gardens in the main courtyard were built in their memory. 2003 - 40th Anniversary of Earle Page College. 2006 - College SCR member and former Pagite, Dr. Peter Hemphill, died. A memorial garden and plaque was dedicated to his memory and service to the college. 2007 - Earle Page College won the Mary Bagnall Trophy for only the second time in its history. The Annual College Ball was also moved out from the college grounds and held at the Armidale Ex-Services Club for the first time ever. The Annual Earle Page College Coast Run raised a record $30,000 for the Children's Medical Research Institute. 2008 - Earle Page College placed 1st in both the Sir Frank Kitto (SFK) and Mary Bagnall (MB) competitions, and places highly in the President's Trophy (PT) competition. Sam Loxton, of Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles is the guest speaker at Sports Dinner, and Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Greens Party is the guest speaker at the annual Politics Dinner. 2009 - 30th anniversary of the Coast Run. 2013 - 50th anniversary of the College and 20th anniversary of the Coast Run Annual Fashion Parade extravaganza. 2020 - Apocalypse - When the College residents where sent home due to Covid an ungodly amount of beer was consumed 2020 - Murphys Return - When trimester 2 ended an ex college student returned named murphy he was 3 story's tall and could hold 6 beers.
College infrastructure
The college is made up of 4 blocks, A, B, C & D blocks, with a total 10 floors. There is a Bot, Mid & Top floor on each block. There is not Bot B however, as this space is taken up by the laundries and other facilities. Bot D and Mid D are combined into one conglomerate floor known as MOD (Middle Od D). Each floor has its own bathrooms. Attached to the blocks include 2 laundries and drying rooms, an I.T. room, a gallery, a library, an exercise room and 2 music rooms. The college also has a dining hall, with a capacity for around 400, a BBQ area, a Junior Common Room, a Senior Common Room and a college shop run by students of the college.
When women were allowed into Page, all bathroom troughs were to be filled in, however, the men of Top D protested and placed their mattresses over the door to the bathroom, preventing the work from being completed. This is the last physical attribute of the college's all male heritage.