Hill House has become the first house in the College's history to have every captain of the five 1st team sports come from the same house.
Nkosana Sibiya leads the 1st Team Cricket, Lesego Legoete the 1st Team Basketball, Zhirui (Jerry) Li the 1st Team Tennis, Mako Mandizha the 1st Team Rugby, and Connor Cooper the 1st Team Hockey. All five are in Hill House and Connor is Head of Hill. Hill also won the Le Sueur Cup in 2024 and finished runners-up to Clarke in 2025.
Established in 1907 as Rakers House, it was later renamed after Fr Eustace St Clair Hill, a priest, soldier and Headmaster of the College from 1922 until 1930. A member of the Community of the Resurrection, he served in the First World War, was wounded at the Battle of Delville Wood and lost his right arm, receiving the Military Cross for his bravery.
As his obituary noted in 1958: "From an academic point of view the choice was an unusual one—he was neither an educatonist nor a scholar; but he proved himself a great Headmaster, and the school grew rapidly under his guidance. He was Headmaster for nine years only—until his retirement in 1930; but in that comparatively short time he left his impress on the school, and made a mark on the minds and hearts of those boys who came under his care that I doubt will ever be eradicated. There was in him a singlehearted devotion, a complete disregard of self, a royal grandeur of character that called out the best in those who worked with him. He was a born leader, and a big man in every sense of the word."
Perhaps it is that same resilience, that ability to call out the best, that has defined Hill House ever since.
The House he gave his name to has produced notable Johannians across the decades. Duncan Buchanan went on to become Bishop of Johannesburg. Mr Justice Kirk-Cohen served as a Judge of the Appeal Court. Prof Olliver Ransome became Medical Ombudsman of the SA Medical and Dental Council. Jean Symes represented South Africa in cricket with the Lions. Chic Hewitt became Dean of Grahamstown. John Milne, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Wits. Michael Shafto, Assistant Editor of The Star.
More than a hundred years on, five young men are adding their own chapter. He would be proud.