St Mary’s Catholic School, Bowen

1873 – PRESENT

The Sisters of St Joseph arrived to establish a convent school in Bowen in July 1873. Living conditions were far better in Bowen than they had been in Townsville with a cottage provided to house the sisters.

Sister Gertrude Wright opened what was known as St Mary’s Convent School in September 1873, and the sisters continued to teach at the school until they were withdrawn in 1879.

In 1881, Sister Gertrude travelled to Bowen with Sister Mary Stanislaus and reopened the school. For a time, the group called themselves the “Sisters of the Holy Family” so as to continue operating under difficult circumstances for the Sisters of St Joseph in Queensland.

In January 1884, cyclone Simla destroyed St Mary’s school and for a time the Sisters taught lessons in the old Masonic Hall. The sisters were forced to close the school later that year and they returned south. The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Bowen in 1885 with the intention of reopening what was now known as St Mary’s Primary School. The initial group of sisters were accommodated in a private residence in Bowen as the convent and church were not yet fully rebuilt after being destroyed in 1884.

St Mary’s obtained its first dedicated school building in 1895 with the old Immigration Depot being relocated and converted into a classroom.

16 years later, the completion of a new church allowed the old church to serve as a new school building and the previous building to be converted into an extension of the convent to accommodate boarders. In 1923 new school buildings were completed, allowing for St Mary’s Convent to be renovated and relocated next to the church.

In November 1937, Santa Barbara’s Infants’ School opened as part of the expanding St Mary’s Primary School site and 6 years later in 1943, Stella Maris Secondary School for Girls was established in the front room and side verandah of St Mary’s School.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, in September 1961, a new dormitory wing at St Mary’s School was opened. The old Immigration Depot building was later sold, and a house next door to St Mary’s Convent was acquired to serve as a music teaching area.

In July 1985, teaching commenced at a new school building on Poole Street. The Santa Barbara Infants’ School was converted into a Parish Centre and St Vincent de Paul Shop. The old St Mary’s School building facing Gordon Street was demolished allowing for playgrounds and sports areas.

In 2016 the school became known as St Mary’s Catholic School and now has over 200 students from Prep to grade 6.

1874

St Columba’s School, Charters Towers

1874 – 1998

In 1874, Father Denis Fouhy opened a school in St Columbcille’s Church, on the site of the Just-In-Time mine at Queenton. There, Miss Quirk taught forty-eight children in her first year. Expansion of the mine in 1877 caused the church building to be moved to Gill Street in Charters Towers, where it was renamed St Columba’s Church. Classes continued to be taught at the new location until a storm destroyed the church in September 1879. The people of Charters Towers built a new church on the site, using material from the original building, and classes were still being taught there when the Sisters of Mercy arrived to manage the school in 1882.

1880

St Patrick’s College, North Ward

1880 – PRESENT

Whereas Father Connolly had shown little concern for the welfare of the Sisters of St Joseph in Townsville, his successor, Father William Mason Walsh, went to considerable lengths to ensure that the Sisters of Mercy were adequately catered for. Father Walsh arrived in Townsville in August 1878 and immediately set about improving conditions in the town’s convent. The Sisters of Mercy arrived in November 1878 and quickly cemented their position in the Townsville

The Sisters of Mercy

The Order of the Sisters of Mercy was established as a result of the charitable work undertaken by Mother Catherine McAuley and dates its founding to December 1831, when she took her vows and returned to the work she had begun at the House of Mercy in Dublin. The first sisters of the Order arrived in Australia on 7 January 1846, when Mother Ursula Frayne, three professed sisters, three novices and an intending postulant arrived at Fremantle in Western Australia. The first six Sisters of Mercy arrived in Queensland with Bishop Quinn in 1859, and among them was Mother Mary Vincent Whitty. community by reopening St Joseph’s Primary School. They opened a boarding school known as St Patrick’s on The Strand in 1880 and a girls’ high school in 1882. Construction on the expanding site culminated with the completion of a grand convent in 1883. The Sisters of Mercy continued to live and teach at St Patrick’s Convent for more than a century.

1890 St Francis Catholic School, Hughenden

1890 – PRESENT

Under the guidance of Father Henry Mouton, St Mary’s Church was completed in Hughenden on 8 December 1888 and Miss O’Brien and Nellie Tyrell opened a school there in 1890. Father Publius Cassar invited Mother Berchmans to send a contingent of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan to Hughenden in 1900. The Convent of St Francis Xavier was completed in October 1900, and four Sisters arrived to teach classes at St Mary’s Church in the same month. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan continued to manage St Francis School until 2003.

1888 St Mary’s School, West End

1888 – 1995

Now residing in the much larger St Patrick’s Convent, the Sisters of Mercy were able to expand their presence in the rapidly expanding port city of Townsville. With the completion of St Mary’s Church in West End on 7 October 1888 the Sisters in Townsville also had another location for a primary school. The Sisters journeyed daily from St Patrick’s Convent to St Mary’s Church in a donated buggy for almost thirty years until Mother Mary Bernadine Nugent founded St Mary’s Convent on the site in 1916. Classes were first taught in the space underneath the Sanctuary, and the Sisters of Mercy remained at the school until 1975.

1893

St Mary’s School, Charters Towers

1893 – 1998

By 1891 Charters Towers had grown to be the second-largest city in Queensland and St Columba’s Church School was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the region. St Mary’s Convent was built, at a cost of £4,000, with attached classrooms for high school students. The design of the convent was based upon St Patrick’s Convent in Townsville, and it was described as the grandest convent north of All Hallows in Brisbane. It was blessed and opened by Bishop Giovanni (John) Cani on 4 December 1892, and housed the Sisters of Mercy until the end of 1899, when they were replaced by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan.

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan were the first order of religious women to be founded in Australia, and were commenced by Australia’s first Bishop, John Bede Polding, and Mother Scholastica Gibbons in 1857. Until 1899 they had confined their work to New South Wales. After witnessing a severe shortage of teachers in Charters Towers, Bishop Joseph Higgins immediately turned to procuring more sisters for the north. No reinforcements were available from Rockhampton or All Hallows, so he approached other orders for help. Aided by Cardinal Francis Moran, Bishop Higgins secured two Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, five Presentation Sisters and 11 Good Samaritan Sisters to bolster the ranks in Queensland. He immediately assigned the Good Samaritans to replace the Sisters of Mercy at the schools in and around Charters Towers.

The Congregation of Christian Brothers

The Christian Brothers are a congregation of religious brothers founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice and dedicated to teaching disadvantaged youth. Rice opened his first school in Waterford, Ireland, in 1802 and took religious promises with seven others in 1808. The congregation was the first Irish congregation of men to be approved by a charter from Rome. The first three Christian Brothers arrived in Australia from Ireland on 10 March 1843. They soon returned to Ireland, believing that life according to the Benedictine model desired by Bishop Polding was incompatible with the rules of their order. They were invited to return by the Archbishop of Melbourne, James Alipius Goold, and a contingent of brothers led by Brother Patrick Ambrose Treacy arrived in the colonies in 1868.

1901 St Patrick’s School, Millchester

1901 – 1923

In 1898 a new church, St Joseph’s, was built in Millchester. The Sisters of Mercy travelled to provide religious instruction at the new church every Sunday morning, but establishing a day school at St Joseph’s Church was far beyond the means of the seven sisters residing in Charters Towers. In 1901, however, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan were sufficiently staffed to open a school on the site, calling it St Patrick’s. Continuing to live at St Mary’s, the sisters who taught at the school were driven by buggy to St Patrick’s. If the buggy was not available the sisters would have to catch the public bus to the Venus Battery and walk several miles to the school. Nevertheless, they continued their daily journey until 1915.

1902

Mount Carmel College, Charters Towers

1902 – 1998

In February 1900 Bishop Higgins wrote to the Christian Brothers Provincial, Brother Edmund Treacy, requesting the placement of brothers in Charters Towers. Father Walsh had already made arrangements for establishing a Christian Brothers College in Townsville, but after visiting Charters Towers and witnessing one sister managing more than 300 students the Bishop gave precedence to the mining city frequently called ‘The World’. The brothers agreed to the request, on the condition that the school and accommodation be built in advance. A day school simply called Christian Brothers’ College was opened by Brother Columban Ryan 1902, but it changed its name to Mount Carmel College in 1916 when it became a boarding school.

1904

St Patrick’s Church School, South Townsville

1904 – 1973

In 1904 the Sisters of Mercy established another school, this time in South Townsville. Father William Mason Walsh was shrewd in his approach to providing Ross Island with its first Church in 1904. A wooden prefabricated church had been ordered for a parish west of Townsville but the priest was transferred, and interest in the project had lapsed. Seeing an opportunity for expanding the Church’s presence in the town, Father Walsh paid the dues on the building and had it constructed on land in South Townsville. The Sisters of Mercy opened a school there in the same year. Mother Mary Bernadine and three sisters were the first to teach at St Patrick’s Church School.

1910

1906

St Patrick’s Catholic School, Winton

1906 – PRESENT

In January 1906 the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Winton accompanied by Bishop James Duhig, the newly consecrated Bishop of Rockhampton. The Mother Superior, Mary Stanislaus Harding, was accompanied by Sisters Baptist Hochruder, Brendan Whelan and Vincent Collins. As they alighted from the train they were welcomed by Father John Fagan. Within days of their arrival they had opened St Patrick’s School in the little wooden church in Winton. Five years later they opened a boarding school with dedicated classrooms. The Sisters of Mercy continued to teach at the school until 1984.

St Joseph’s Catholic School, Cloncurry

1910 – PRESENT

In 1908 Bishop Duhig visited Mother Mary of the Cross and persuaded her to send sisters to open a school in Cloncurry. The Sisters of St Joseph were now to return to Queensland, almost 30 years after Bishop Quinn had ordered them to leave. A convent was built for the sisters on land donated by a parishioner, and in October 1909 four Sisters of St Joseph arrived in Cloncurry to teach at St Joseph’s Church, marking the order’s return to North Queensland. In a reversal of the usual circumstances, the sisters raised money to have a new presbytery built for the parish priest, Father Edward O’Keeffe, who had been living in a rough boughshed beside the church when they arrived. The Sisters remained at the school until 1996.

1911

Our Lady’s Mount College, North Ward

1911 – 1969

Father Walsh had invited the Christian Brothers to open a school in Townsville by 1900 but due to the dire need for teachers in Charters Towers the people of Townsville would have to wait until August 1910 for the brothers’ arrival. To provide a location for the new Christian Brothers high school, Father Walsh purchased the old Geological Survey Museum on Stanton Hill, and the Church spent £4,000 renovating the buildings. Unfortunately, Father Walsh did not live to see Brother Patrick Wilfrid Nolan open Our Lady’s Mount College on 22 January 1911. The Christian Brothers continued to be based at this location until the completion of Ignatius Park College in 1969.

1912

St Patrick’s School, Brandon

1912 – 1923

In 1911 there was significant competition between the communities of Brandon and Ayr over where a new convent for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan should be built. The fact that Father Jules Bucas had taken up residence at the newly built St Patrick’s Church may have contributed to Bishop Duhig’s decision that Brandon was the better location for a convent. It was a choice that caused no shortage of difficulties for the four sisters who arrived in September 1912. By 1917 the school at Ayr was bustling with students, while enrolments at Brandon had dwindled to 18. The school closed in 1923, a few years after the convent was moved to Ayr.

St Francis School, Ayr

1912 – PRESENT

From 1912 the Sisters of the Good Samaritan would travel from the convent in Brandon to St Francis’ Church in Ayr each day to teach classes. The school was very successful, but the difficulty and expense of travelling to and from Brandon soon became unmanageable. In 1920

Father Bucas’ successor, Father Thomas Grogan, finally arranged to have the convent in Brandon moved to Ayr. At various times over their 84 years in the community, the sisters helped to establish a girls’ boarding school, a co-educational primary school, a secondary school for girls and — with the Marist Brothers — a splitcampus regional primary school on the site.

The Marist Brothers of the Schools

The Marist Brothers of the Schools, more generally known as the Marist Brothers, were originally a French Catholic Religious Institute of Brothers founded by Father Marcellin Champagnat in 1817. Like other religious orders that established schools in North Queensland, the Marist Brothers were primarily dedicated to educating the children of the poor. The first brothers arrived in Australia in 1872 and opened their first school at The Rocks in New South Wales. In 1951 Bishop Hugh Edward Ryan and Father Kevin Kelly wrote to the Marist Brothers Provincial, Brother Andrew inviting his order to open a school in Ayr. The Brothers arrived in the Burdekin in 1953, where they established their only school in North Queensland, Edmund Campion College.