ERIC FREAK MEMORIAL CHAPEL 

Eric Freak (1916 –34, PAC 1929-33) was an outstanding tennis player who, with coaching from long-time PAC master T.G. Luke, succeeded in schoolboy championships and appeared set on a brilliant career in the game.

 Harry Hopman, a legend in Australian tennis, coached at PAC in 1932 and declared in the press that Eric Freak was the finest tennis prospect in Australia.  Freak even managed to take a set from Hopman in the Australian titles at Memorial Drive that year!  The Wimbledon Champion of 1933, Jack Crawford, felt that Freak could succeed at Wimbledon and wanted to take him there.

 This promising start was cut short in 1934 when the 18-year-old Freak died from a ruptured appendix. Freak's parents were devastated by his death and worked hard to ensure that following their deaths there would be a lasting memorial to their son at the school.  This wish was realised with the opening of the Eric Freak Memorial Chapel in 1972.  A large cabinet of his tennis trophies can be seen in the school museum.

 Subsequently, the chapel has been air-conditioned and stained glass windows added through the generosity of the Parents and Friends Association.  A pipe organ was installed in 1990 following a bequest from  A S H Gifford. Subsequently, a further gift from the Crompton family in memory of Joseph Crompton led to additional pipes being added to the organ and a spire installed on the roof of the chapel.