History & Future

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COFA has a long history and a bright future. The College has been teaching teachers for more than five decades and teaching artists and designers for 35 years.

History

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

  • 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.
  • 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

The Future

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

The Gateway @ COFA is a state of the art teaching, learning and studio/laboratory redevelopment of COFA’s Paddington campus which will transform art and design education in Australia to meet the growing demands of the global creative economy.