St Mary's College, Maryborough

St Mary's College Maryborough is a co-educational secondary school in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.

History

Originally called the Christian Brothers College, Maryborough, Saint Mary's College is a parish school which comprises the amalgamated schools of the Christian Brothers College, Maryborough, and Saint Mary's Girls High School. The Christian Brothers school was originally opened on Sunday, 2 September 1888, by Roman Catholic Archbishop James Duhig. Although staffed and named a Christian Brothers school from 1888-1979 it was in fact a Parish school, owned and overseen by the Roman Catholic Parish of Saint Mary's Maryborough. This school was amalgamated in 1979 with the Sisters of Mercy school, Maryborough, and was renamed Saint Mary's College, Maryborough. This secondary college is a Parish school but is affiliated and administered through the auspices of the Brisbane Catholic Education Vicariate, also known as "BCE".

Maryborough was the first town outside the capital to welcome two teaching congregations, the Sisters of St. Joseph (1870) and the Christian Brothers (1888).

An early reference to a Catholic schoolhouse in Maryborough was made in ‘Freeman’s Journal’ in February 1858. Sometime towards the middle of that year the school (a wooden building with a shingle roof and wooden floor) was opened by Dean Rigney. James Cleary became the first teacher and the school doubled as a Church whenever there was a priest in the district.

The first Parish Priest, Fr. Paul Tissot, invited two Sisters of St. Joseph to Maryborough, they arrived in July 1870. They began teaching infants and girls in St. Joseph’s School, Adelaide Street. The original schoolhouse continued to be used for the boys, the lay teacher being John Healy.

The Sisters of St. Joseph departed in 1879, and meanwhile the recruitment of postulants had increased the numbers of Sisters of Mercy, who were to replace them. They arrived on April 1, 1880 and continued to work in the school that from then on was called St. Mary’s.

Maryborough has the distinction of having the second Christian Brothers school established in Queensland, but it was almost the first. The Catholic community made the first application in the state for a Brothers school (Fr. Tissot in 1874). Members of the Christian Brothers order were on their way from Melbourne to open a school in Maryborough when the Archbishop ‘intercepted’ them in Brisbane and persuaded them to open a school at Gregory Terrace.

The Christian Brothers school in Maryborough was finally opened on September 3, 1888. There were 10 boys enrolled and the principal was Brother George Cotter. The property was left, for the construction of a school, by Mr Frank Winterheld who emigrated from Germany in about 1850.

In its original form the Christian Brothers school was a low-blocked timber building 24 by 84 feet (7.3 by 26 m) with two 11-foot-wide (3.4 m) verandahs. It was built by J. Rooney and Sons for 280 pounds. The building was extended in 1891 and again in 1900. It was raised and put on high blocks in 1919.

The only financial support for the school came from a voluntary contribution system in which fees ranged from 6 pence to 18 pence per week. Children of the poor were taught free. The original Trustees of the school were Richard Bingham Sheridan and Valentine Barbeler. To mark the school’s early success and to show their appreciation the citizens of Maryborough presented the school with 70 sovereigns.

Brother Cotter remained as Principal until 1894 when he went to Rockhampton as the Principal of the new school founded there. Since that time the Principals have been Brothers Scott, Lawless, Kelly, O’Brien, Walsh, Hogan, Grace, Walsh, Guinan, Whiting, Cloonan, Alward, Crowley, Adams, Lavander, Molloy, Wynne, Keenan, Cummins, Connors, Proctor, Kelly, McGuren and Hopgood.

The first principal was Mr Patrick Power, followed by Mr Michael Ashton, Mr Kerry Swann and Mr John Mula. The current principal is Mrs Joy Massingham.

On 27 January 1963, the “new” school, which was built in front of the “old” school, was blessed and opened by Mgr. English.

In 1977 the first rumours were heard that the Brothers school was going “co-ed”. In 1979 the rumours became fact with the amalgamation of the Brothers school and the Sisters of Mercy school – on the site of the Brothers school in Lennox Street. The school also adopted a new name – St Mary’s High School.

At this time the original school building was converted to a library and art block. A new building housing the typing and home economics rooms, and two additional classrooms, was constructed. This building was later extended to contain the library and art room when the original Brothers’ building was demolished in 1984. Increasing enrolments meant that two additional classrooms were needed and these were added in 1985. Upgrading of current facilities continued with the development of an AV Centre in 1985 and the networking of the Computer resources in 1994 and 1995.

In 1988 the Christian Brothers commemorated 100 years in Maryborough with Centennial celebrations in August and September. These commemorations included the annual Art Show and Fete, the Biennial Concert and a reunion that drew past students and teachers from throughout Australia.

With more than 100 years of tradition in the Parish of Maryborough, and with the support of the Parish of Hervey Bay, St. Mary’s implemented Year 11 in 1988. To mark this expansion into Senior schooling, the school changed its name to St. Mary’s College during the 1997 school year.

To enable the expansion into senior schooling a three-stage building programme was implemented. Stage one saw a new library building and a science / business / computing facility. During stage two the existing administration centre and part of the sports gymnasium were built, along with the refurbishment of the old classrooms and office area. Stage three saw the completion of the sports facility which incorporates drama, music and hospitality rooms. In 2007 a new Innovations and Technology building was constructed to meet the needs of a developing design curriculum. Construction finished in 2011 on a government funded developement. This two-storey, extra-curricular building includes a junior science facility, performance stage for dramatic arts, new lockers and a room to facilitate for the school chaplain. The Innovations and Technology was also expanded during this time to account for the large influx of younger students in 2014 when Year 7 will be shifted into secondary school.

In 2010, an education investment granted laptop computers to enrich education for students who were in Year 9 at the time. The second batch was deployed at the start of 2011, now providing for all Year 9 and Year 10 students.

Sources

• History book: 100 Years and More - Catholicism in Maryborough 1849-1980 local history text.

References

External links

• http://www.smcm.qld.edu.au/
• http://www.parishes.bne.catholic.net.au/maryborough/history.html
• http://www.parishes.bne.catholic.net.au/maryborough/

Coordinates: 25°32′34″S 152°41′48.4″E / 25.54278°S 152.696778°E / -25.54278; 152.696778