Wilderness School

Our story

Wilderness began in 1884, when Margaret Hamilton Brown started a small school in her parents’ home, with her youngest sister Mamie among the first five pupils. A kindergarten based on Friedrich Froebel’s ideas followed, and in 1893 Margaret bought a building on Northcote Terrace for a school she later named “The Wilderness”. The five Brown sisters taught there, with classes once held around the dining table, in an old tram or in the stables.

Mamie brought in the ideas of educator Charlotte Mason, and by the end of the Second World War there were 360 pupils. The school became a company in 1948. Today Wilderness is a non-denominational Christian girls’ day and boarding school in Medindie, from Reception to Year 12 (and Year 13), with about 856 students (2025).