History

COFA has a long history and has had several names.

The College has been teaching teachers for more than five decades and teaching artists for 35 years.

COFA’s campus is now poised to undergo a major redevelopment.

Here’s a brief history of COFA’s Paddington campus:

• Before European settlement: COFA’s current location was used as a camping ground by the Cadigal people of the Eora nation.

• 1898: the site became Paddington’s first Infants School. The school building remains in use today housing COFA’s Library.

• circa 1940 it became Sydney Technical High School.

• 1958: the site became the Alexander Mackie Teachers College.

• By the 1970s: the original site was almost doubled in size.

• 1975: Alexander Mackie became an art school* and a College of Advanced Education.

• In the 1980s: the college became the City Art Institute.

• In 1990, the institution become a faculty of UNSW and was renamed the College of Fine Arts (COFA).

• 2009. COFA received $48 million in Federal budget through the Education Investment Fund (EIF) for the $58 million Gateway@COFA redevelopment.