Overview

In December 1917 the property known as Cranbrook was purchased from the NSW Government by a group of business men and churchmen who were active members of the Church of England in the parish of St Mark's, Darling Point. The group wished to provide a site and initial facilities for a Church of England boys' school in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The founders believed that many existing independent schools were "too hidebound by the traditions and manners of England" and that a new school should be established, which had "less pomp and ceremony, producing less of a prototype elitist product and more of an individual".

Cranbrook School was officially opened on Monday, 22nd July 1918. The School's first Headmaster was the Reverend F T Perkins.