OUR STORY
Kathleen Lumley Foundation was formed following the closure and subsequent sale of Kathleen Lumley College, a non-denominational residential college for postgraduate students which opened in North Adelaide in 1967.
Kathleen Lumley College was established by formal Resolution of the Council of The University of Adelaide on 8 November 1965. The prime movers behind its creation were Sir Kenneth Wills, KBE MC (then Chancellor of The University of Adelaide), Sir Henry Basten (then Vice Chancellor) and Sir Kenneth Wills’s sister, Kathleen Lumley, after whom the College was named.
Kathleen Lumley College responded to a need in Adelaide to foster an active, vibrant postgraduate community, in which scholars from different disciplines would live together, building relationships and networks that would impact both South Australia and the broader global community.
Between October 1967, when the first six students entered the College, and October 2024, when the College was formally sold, Kathleen Lumley College was home to well over 4,000 postgraduate students and a substantial number of senior academics who came from at least 50 different countries.
Many of the College’s former scholars have gone on to become published authors, leading educators, and significant figures in research, business and government in Australia and around the world. The College was proud of its contributions both to internationalisation and to postgraduate education through scholarship and collegiality.
It is this legacy that inspired the formation of the Kathleen Lumley Foundation, funded through the College’s sale. The College continues to operate today under new ownership, providing accommodation facilities primarily for but not limited to students, postgraduates and academic visitors.
