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The first Catholic Church was established.
Lay couple Mary and Michael Burge established the first Catholic school funded entirely by money collected from local Catholic settles. The School was located not far from where St Stephen's cathedral stands today. At the time, there were less than 1000 settlers, and about 1/4 of them were Roman Catholics. -
The First Permenant Church
5 years later the settlement had it's first permeant church, St Stephens. -
Bishop James Quinn
Bishop James Quinn, five Priests and 6 Irish Sisters of Mercy made their way to Brisbane aboard the Yarra Era. Bishop Quinn was surprised by the poverty of the largely Irish population and committed to raising the economies and the social status of Catholics through education Mother Vincent Witty and the Sisters of Mercy established our first Catholic Secondary School, (All Hallows). -
Proclambed the Cathedral of the Diocese
St Stephen was proclaimed the cathedral of the diocese, after formally separating from New South Wales to become known as the colony of Queensland. -
Trip to Brisbane
Bishop Quinn, 5 priests and six Irish sisters of mercy made their way to Brisbane aboard the Yarra Era. Bishop Quinn was surprised by the poverty of the largely Irish population and committed to raising the economic an social status of Catholic through education. Mother Vincent Witty and the sisters of Mercy established the first Catholic Secondary School (All Hallows). -
James School for boys was established
James school for boys was established entirely by lay teachers. It was a unique with both religious and lay student teachers receiving their training before and after school and working in classes apprentices during the day it would be almost 100 years until dedicated teachers training collage was established Macaulay Collage at the All Hallows campus. -
35 local schools were established
This was a time of growth on the back of the divide between the Irish Catholics and English protestants came a push to keep church and state separate. Laws were passed to provide free, compulsory and secular education to children and remove state funding for all religious school. There were 35 Catholic schools established and fully funded by their communities. It was around this time that St Mary of the Cross Mackillop and the Sisters of St Joseph arrived in Brisbane. -
James Dhuig
Archbishop James Dhuig had a visionary with an entrepreneurial spirt could see the growing need for Catholic school, he also invested in large tracts of land around Brisbane. -
28 new schools in Brisbane
Archbishop Dhuig was concerned with the spread of justice to all, he was heard for decades on such topics as urban development, artistic opportunity, land settlement and higher education. By 1930 Archbishop Dhuig had established 28 new schools in Brisbane -
Diocesan Inspector
Father Bernard O'Shea was appointed as diocesan inspector in 1943. -
Catholic Education Suffers
The Great Depression in 1929 to the end of world war II saw Australia suffer the challenges of wide spread poverty and unemployment. Catholic Education was affected by the lack of teachers, growing class sizes and economic challenges. but Catholic education persisted through these challenges. some schools waived their fees to help struggling families and surprisingly no schools were closed. -
Diocesan director
The role renamed as diocesan director of Catholic Education. He would become instrumental in leading us through the transformation of Catholic Education In Brisbane. Catholic Education continued to struggle with the demands of its mission throughout the post-war boom. The numbers within religious began to decline and so on increase of the employment of the lay staff. Despite their budget they managed to open 26 new schools in 16 years. -
Government Funding
Goodman's Bishop John Cullinane
said there was no money. He called a meeting of Catholic parents who voted to strike, resulting in one thousand students descending from the local state school. political parties began to reconsider state aid to non state school and within 12 months the federal government provided grants to Catholic school. But communities continued to fall short of these funds.Major changes occur nation wide in school funding after Goulburn school strike. -
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Catholic Taxpayers Association
Catholic taxpayers Association had lobbied State funding since the 1930s and with the formation of the Queensland Federation of Parents and Friends in 1962. A major shift in operations of school and management of funding would continue to face change over the next decade with the Whitlam Government policies. The first Australian born Archbishop Francis Rush, was appointed in 1973. it had been 40 years before Farther Bernard O'Shea was replaced by the first lay director. -
Macauley Collage
Macauley collage opened its doors to include lay teachers as Catholic had become more reliant on laid leadership and staff. Major social upheaval and the Second Vatican council saw new educational approaches which would see this decade closed with 43 thousand students enrolled and 113 schools across the archdiocese. The provision of schools from operating on a community funding model to a government supported model took twenty years.
