TOWNSVILLE Catholic Education is celebrating 150 years of educating students – with two schools opened in 1873 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
The two schools celebrating the milestone are St Joseph’s School, The Strand and St Mary’s School, Bowen.
Executive director Jacqui Francis said the achievement was a time for all to reflect on the past histories of the schools and be thankful of the foresight of those who brought Catholic Education to the diocese.
“We are so fortunate that these two schools, St Joseph’s Catholic School, The Strand and St Mary’s Catholic School, Bowen, continue to thrive in servicing the local community after 150 years,” she said.
“The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart and later the Sisters of Mercy were instrumental in providing education and their vision for faith based education continues in our school communities today.”
Ms Francis said since the start of the schools in Townsville, tens of thousands of students had been educated and Catholic education had grown to be the largest provider of schooling in the Townsville diocese outside of government schools.
“In 2023, the Townsville Diocese has over 14,000 students enrolled within 31 Catholic schools within communities north to Hinchinbrook, east to Palm Island, south to The Whitsundays and west to Mount Isa,” she said.
“Our mission continues to ensure our schools provide excellent holistic education with Jesus Christ as its foundation and we are proud of the continued growth and opportunities our schools provide students.”
St Joseph’s School, The Strand
St Joseph’s School was founded in February 1873 by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
In 1878 the Sisters of Mercy took over the running of the school.
Today St Joseph’s Catholic School, The Strand has over 360 students from Prep to Year 6.
On February 27, Bishop Tim Harris commemorated the day that the Sisters of St Joseph arrived in Townsville to serve as teachers holding a liturgy with the students and school community.
Principal Timothy Ham said being Townsville’s oldest Catholic school was a great honour for our community.
“There have been many generations of families who have had the pleasure to be taught at our school, many of whom still have families attending today,” Mr Ham said.
“The Parish turned 150 last year, and the community decided to mark the milestones together with events planned from 19 to 21 May. We are looking forward to celebrating with our past and present, Parish and school communities over the weekend.”
St Mary’s School, Bowen
In July of 1873, the Sisters of St Joseph travelled from Townsville to Bowen and opened St Mary’s Convent School in September that year.
St Mary’s School, Bowen has over 200 students from Prep to Year 6.
St Mary’s School has a commemorative Mass and Dinner at the school on Saturday, September 9.