Education

• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary and Adult Faith
• Non-institutional

Secondary

As you will have read in the section on primary education, the Sisters founded the first primary school at Tarmons, Potts Point in 1858. Known as St Vincent's Day School, its founding Principal was Sister Aloysius Raymond who not only conducted the school but also trained the younger sisters in the art of teaching. By 1861, St Vincent's School had received State recognition. Sisters and trainee teachers were paid a salary and all materials were supplied.

In 1870, St Vincent's Hospital moved to Darlinghurst, and a new separate school building was erected at the rear of the convent. These two developments enabled the sisters to open a High School, the first school of its kind in NSW. In 1882, the school was re-named St Vincent's College (www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au) and, by 1884, had expanded to include boarding students. In 1886, the College was officially blessed and opened. Sister Ursula Bruton was appointed Principal of what soon became a very fine College, with a reputation for academic excellence, the dramatic and musical arts, and sport.

The sisters continued as Principal of the St Vincent's College until the appointment of the first lay Principal, Ms Caroline Duhigg, in 1994. In 2002, Ms Michele Hugonnet, then chair of the Sisters of Charity Education Council, was appointed the second lay Principal of St Vincent's College Potts Point.

St Mary's High School Liverpool was the second of our secondary schools to be founded in NSW. In 1879 the Sisters opened a secondary school in Liverpool and accepted some boarders. Nine year later, the sisters opened St Anne's Orphanage where many children found a warm home environment and attended St Mary's School. In 1985 the last Sister of Charity Principal retired from St Mary's and the appointment of Ms Michele Hugonnet was made in 1986. Ms Hugonnet was an ex-student of Bethlehem College and after her term as first Lay Principal, Michele became the first lay chairperson of the Sisters of Charity Education Council. In 1998 St Mary's High School became known as All Saints Catholic Girls College, adopting the name of the Liverpool Parish.

In 1881, the Sisters founded St Vincent's school in Elizabeth Street Ashfield. The following year, the convent, primary and secondary schools were opened in Bland Street. In 1900, at the request of Cardinal Moran, the college was named Bethlehem College (www.bethlehemcollege.nsw.edu.au). In 1906, new buildings, including an Assembly Hall, were opened after some of the old buildings had been destroyed by fire. Mother Veronica O'Brien was the first Principal and, until 1991, the sisters continued to hold the principalship until the appointment of the first lay Principal, Ms Joy Short, in 1991. There are still Sisters working in support roles at Bethlehem where the College community continues to give solid and colourful positive recognition to the founding story.

The first secondary school founded by the Sisters of Charity in Victoria followed the commencement in 1896 of St Monica's primary school on Mt Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds. In 1897, the convent was established at 139 Buckley Street Essendon, and a secondary school, St Columba's College (www.columba.vic.edu.au), was blessed and opened in one of the convent rooms. Once again, Mother Ursula Bruton was the founding Principal of what soon became a very fine College, with a reputation for academic excellence, and the dramatic and musical arts. Until 2000, the sisters maintained the Principalship of St Columba's when the first lay Principal, Ms Julie Ryan, was appointed. There are still two sisters involved in the College, assisting in administrative and support roles.

In 1897, the Congregation founded a second College in Victoria. In 1889, the sisters commenced a primary school in Victoria Parade Fitzroy. In 1897, the school was expanded with the foundation of St Patrick's Secondary School in Victoria Parade. When land was needed in 1901 to build St Vincent's Hospital, the school was demolished and re-opened in Grey Street East Melbourne. In 1902, it was re-named (to avoid confusion with the Jesuit Boys' College also known as St Patrick's, situated across the road!) Mother Laurence Normoyle was appointed founding Principal of CLC which soon developed a reputations for academic excellence, its centre of music, and as early as 1917, for science. After almost seventy years at East Melbourne, Catholic Ladies' College (www.clc.melb.catholic.edu.au) was moved to a totally new complex at Eltham in 1971. A Sister of Charity held the position of Principal until 1987 when the first lay Principal, Ms Patricia Ryan, was appointed. The presence of the Sisters remains vital at CLC and over the past decade Sisters have been involved in the classroom, in administration and support roles, in working with ex-students and with home visitation of families.

The first, and only, Sisters of Charity secondary school in Queensland is Mt St Michael's founded at Ashgrove in 1928. At the invitation of the Archbishop of Brisbane, the sisters established a convent at 'Grantuly' Ashgrove in 1925 and set up a primary school in rooms within the convent. The re-location of the primary school in 1928 enabled the opening of a secondary school 'Grantuly College'. In 1941, a new building was erected and the school re-named Mt St Michael's College (www.msm.qld.edu.au). Sister Mary Gerard Ryan was appointed founding Principal of what soon became a very fine College, with a reputation for academic excellence, music, and sport. In 1993 the last Sister of Charity Principal resigned and Mrs Narelle Mullins was appointed the following year as Mt St Michael's first Lay Principal.

In Tasmania, the primary school at St Joseph's Hobart, established in 1847, was replaced by Mt Carmel Primary in Sandy Bay in 1942. Fifteen years later, in 1957, St Joseph's Secondary was transferred from Molle Street to Sandy Bay and the new secondary school was blessed and opened as Mt Carmel College Sandy Bay (www.mountcarmel.tas.edu.au). With the decision to establish a single senior Catholic secondary College (Years 11-12) in 1995, Mt Carmel has continued as a K-10 school for girls, with boys from Infants to Grade 2. Up to 1998, Mt Carmel had been under the Principalship of a Sister of Charity; in that year, the first lay Principal, Mrs Bobby Court was appointed. One sister is still involved on the staff of as a pastoral counsellor and another serves on the Governing Council. Though the College is no longer conducted by the Sisters of Charity it continues to maintain strong links with the founding story and the Sisters of Charity.

Other secondary schools

In each state, several other secondary schools were founded by the Sisters of Charity but were later closed or were handed over to another religious congregation. Those that remained 'Charity schools' until taken over by the Catholic Education Office in the last part of the 20th century, included:

Sisters of Charity Colleges

On January 1, 1993, the four Colleges that remained under the care of the Sisters of Charity were incorporated, and are now governed by a Board of Directors. The incorporation of our institutional works was undertaken so that the Sisters of Charity in Australia could make a continuing and distinctive contribution to the mission of the Church in the healing and teaching ministries.

These four Colleges are:

St Vincent's College Potts Point (NSW)
St Columba's College Essendon (Victoria)
Catholic Ladies' College Eltham (Victoria)
Mt St Michael's College, Ashgrove (Queensland)

Since 1994 there has been in place an annual program of Formation Seminars for all the Directors of the four colleges. The Sisters of Charity Education Council (SCEC) is responsible for these seminars which are held annually over a weekend on a rotating basis in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The seminars have been a very significant factor in giving College Board Directors a sense of the history, tradition and mission of the Congregation. They provide a wonderful opportunity each year for Board Directors and senior College staff to gather together and they have ensured that these 'young' Boards have developed a sense of self confidence and direction.

In 2003, we introduced a new focus into these seminars by giving emphasis to our Ignatian heritage, what this might mean in our College spirit and curriculum and how it might contribute to the functioning of the Board especially in its meetings and decision making. For this purpose, we ran a series of individual seminars for Board directors, Principals and executives assisted by the Loyola Institute at Pymble. This has provided us with a solid base on which to build in the years ahead.

Secondary education has gone through extraordinary changes in the last decade of the Twentieth Century. The explosion of technology, the complexity of the industrial climate, the financial dependence on State and Commonwealth funding, and the enormous social pressures facing adolescents are but a few of the realities and challenges which secondary schools face. Only a solid understanding of, and commitment to, our spiritual heritage will ensure that our Colleges can assist our students to become young women of competence, compassion and commitment who can take their place in our Church and our World.