It was established by the Methodist Church of Australasia in 1952 and is named after Lincoln College, Oxford at which John Wesley was a fellow.

The chosen design was devised by John Burchmore, later to become president of the College Club and drawn by Nicholas Feodoroff.

The shield is surmounted by a gold stag, taken from the Arms of Lincoln College, Oxford.

[1] Number 32 Brougham Place is a mansion which is a former residence of Sir Richard Chaffey Baker who was a barrister, pastoralist and politician.

Formerly known as Annexe due to its communication to the Federation building, it underwent posthumous dedication to the late Samuel C E Abraham (Alumnus 1954-1958), a respected practitioner of Paediatrics both overseas and in Australia who champions such philanthropic projects as the Johor Baru Spastic Centre and the Sentul Project.

Federation style houses are relatively rare in South Australia because, in the short period when they were popular, the central colony/state was less prosperous than its neighbours.

They were different from those in the rest in Australia in having walls of stone instead of brick and strongly coloured rather than white paint on their woodwork.