Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, 1854-1968
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1854-1968
History
The second public (independent) and first Catholic secondary school in Victoria, St Patrick's College was founded in East Melbourne on 5 December 1854. After struggling with financial and scholastic difficulties in its first decade, the college flourished under the administration of the Jesuits from September 1865. Despite low enrolments in both the school and attached seminary at the turn of the century, the college continued to function as an important pillar of the intellectual and spiritual life of Melbourne's Catholic community. Over 5000 students had passed through St Patrick's by 1968, when Archbishop Knox decided it was to close. The decision met with spirited resistance from the school and wider community, but proceeded despite legal wrangling and an attempt to have the site classified by the National Trust. Demolished in the early 1970s, all that remains of the physical school is the bluestone East Tower close to the corner of Lansdowne Street and Cathedral Place. The St Patrick's Old Collegians Association (founded 1911) survives.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Michael Head and Gerard Healy, More than a School: A history of St Patrick's College East Melbourne, 1854-1968. Richmond, Vic, Jesuit Publications, 1999.