Location St Lucia Campus Motto Fiat Lux (Latin) Established 1911 | Full name Emmanuel College Motto in English Let there be light | |
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University University of Queensland | ||
Emmanuel College (commonly called EMC) is the largest residential college of Australia’s University of Queensland, located on its St Lucia campus. Affiliated with the Uniting and Presbyterian Churches, it provides co-educational accommodation, academic and pastoral support for 340 undergraduate and postgraduate students of Brisbane’s leading tertiary institutions (University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology ).
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Students' Club
The Emmanuel College Students' Club (ECSC) is a student-run body responsible for co-ordinating the cultural, sporting, social and community service activities within the College and plays a major role in the day-to-day running of the College. The Students' Club is led by an elected Executive, consisting of mostly third- and fourth-year students, with second year and first year (fresher) representatives included. The incoming Executive for the following year is announced at the annual AGM near the end of Semester Two, after a week of voting has taken place.
History
Emmanuel College was founded by the Queensland Presbyterian Church in 1911, with an all-male cohort first taking up residence in 1912 in its original location on Brisbane CBD’s Wickham Terrace (the now heritage-listed St Andrews War Memorial Hospital Administration Building). It came as Australia’s ninth residential college, and the first of the University of Queensland.
In 1955, the college relocated to its present site on Sir William MacGregor Drive on the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland.
During the 1970s, with the Presbyterian Church moving towards partnership with other religious denominations, Emmanuel also came under the auspices of the Uniting Church.
Women were admitted as Collegians in 1975. At present, the college boasts a 50:50 male to female ratio.
2011 marked the college’s centenary.
College Layout
Emmanuel is divided into 12 buildings, or “wings”, named after influential people in the college’s history. Each wing acts as a smaller community within the wider College environment, which arranges communal events and provides a familial, supportive environment.
The college comprises nine two-story, co-educational undergraduate wings;
- Martin
- Gibson
- Merrington
- Meiklejohn
- Douglas
- Glaister
- Henderson
- Drewe (three-storeys)
- Busch (only non-co-ed wing, with exclusively female residents)
The remaining three residences are postgraduate wings composed of self-catering apartments;
- Edmonds
- 2nd Res
- MacGregor
Pipe Band
Emmanuel College founded the university-wide Pipe Band in 1998, affectionately referred to as the ‘World’s Friendliest Pipe Band'. Membership is available to all University members, including staff and alumni, and to the wider Brisbane community. Its subsidy and management remains the college’s core contribution to the University of Queensland and Brisbane public.
Sporting
Emmanuel students compete in a variety of individual and team sporting activities against the other 10 residential colleges of the University of Queensland as part of the Inter College Competition (ICC). The college upholds a tradition of strong performance in competing for the Men’s Old Collegian’s Cup and the Women’s ICC Sports Shield, despite having lower resident numbers per gender than single-sex colleges. In 2016, Emmanuel placed second in men's sport and third in women's sport.
The college hosts an annual Sports Dinner, where the accomplishments of Emmanuel residents in the ICC are recognised and celebrated.
Emmanuel is the only Australian college to host an annual Rugby 7s tournament, in which university teams from around Australia participate in a weekend of competition on the UQ campus.
Cultural
As part of the Inter College Competition (ICC), Emmanuel competes in Debating, College Idol, Bandfest, Art Show, Choralfest, Oratory, One Act Play, Chess and Dancefest. In 2016 Emmanuel placed first in Bandfest, Choralfest and Dancefest and won the coveted ICC Cultural Cup.
The college hosts an annual Theatre Restaurant – an entirely student-run musical with a three-course dinner – and an in-house art show.