20 Years of Outstanding Education at St Columba

By Julie Cooper of St Columba Anglican School

The Anglican Diocese of Grafton stretches from Port Macquarie in the south to Tweed Heads in the north in New South Wales. In the 1980s and 1990s there were 27 parishes, together with four Anglican Schools, Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School at Tweed Heads, Emmanuel Anglican College at Ballina, Clarence Valley Anglican School at Grafton and Bishop Druitt College at Coffs Harbour.

John Barrett was Chair of Committees in the Anglican Diocese of Grafton for Synod and Bishop in Council for a decade in the 1990s. He was aware of the opportunities for mission and ministry within the already established Diocesan Schools.

Education in Port Macquarie began in 1825 at the old historic St Thomas’ (Anglican Church), the fifth oldest in Australia and ceased in 1865, following the NSW Public Education Act.

Under the supervision of the Rev. Thomas Hassall (Rev. Samuel Marsden’s son-in-law) a Church School was established by May 1825. It was reported to the Archdeacon of the Colony, Thomas Hobbes Scott, that Gamaliel Farrell was schoolmaster with fifty-six pupils.

When St Thomas’ Church was opened in 1828 the school moved into the nave of the church and later into the old surgeon’s dispensary (now The Chapel) when it ceased to be used by the government medical officer. With the establishment of the Port Macquarie Public School in 1867 and the withdrawal of State Aid, the Episcopal School closed down after forty years of service to the community.

Later St Thomas’ Church also pioneered and conducted a pre-school Kindergarten from 1950 to 1973, once again in the old dispensary until the new parish hall was built in 1961. This school closed down after twenty-three years of service to all denominations because departmental requirements would have rendered the building unsuitable for use by church organisations.

In 1999, John Barrett had discussions with the then Anglican Bishop of Grafton, Right Reverend Phillip Huggins, and proposed the establishment of an Anglican School in Port Macquarie.

A public meeting was organised to gauge support for the proposal. The rest is history. St Columba Anglican School opened in late January 2002, with 76 students from Kindergarten to Year 7.

Rev Canon Dr John Barrett OAM went on to become the Foundation Chair of Council, a position in which he served until his retirement in 2018.

Over the past twenty years, St Columba Anglican School has grown to almost 1200 students from Kindergarten to Year 12, and is unapologetic in its desire to offer its students the very best education possible. "We aim to offer every student the very best educational experience – as good or better than any other school in the region or the state."