130th Anniversary
History of the College
On Monday 2 July at 9.00am we celebrated the founding of the College in 1888 by the Marist Brothers. The founding principal was Br Walter Moore. Br Walter was an unwell man at the time. He was joined by Br Michael Murphy and Br Wilfrid Priestman.

The first community opened their school on July 2, 1888. The Director selected by Br John was Br Walter Moore. His assistants were Br Michael Murphy, aged 20, and Br Wilfrid Priestman, a late vocation aged 42. The school had the bush on one side and paddocks on the other. It was situated near the tramway line terminus. The number of pupils at the beginning was forty. By the end of the year there were more than 100 on the rolls. Br John commented on the school in 1889 - The classrooms are very well installed but rather small. The site is all that can be desired. The school is perhaps the least fatiguing and the best placed we have in Sydney. His report showed the school was being well conducted. Br Walter was doing very well indeed, the young Br. Michael was proving to be un homme de talent et d’avenir. The Jesuit Fathers were very pleased with the school.
Sadly, Br Walter Moore passed away from tuberculosis in the third year of the school. It is amazing that our school was founded by one man who was sick, a very young man with almost no teaching experience and a third who was not trained and yet it has thrived over the years in educating over 10,000 young men from the Lower North Shore of Sydney.
Future of the College
Last Wednesday night Sydney Catholic Schools held an Information Symposium on the future of the College. The parent meeting was well attended. The Regional Director, Mrs Elizabeth O’Carrigan, addressed the meeting and indicated the following:
- Girls will be enrolled a year at a time commencing with Year 7 girls in 2021.
- The Combined Primary and Secondary school will be called Marist Catholic College North Shore. The primary side of the precinct will be called St Mary’s Campus and the Secondary Side will be called La Valla Campus. La Valla was St Marcellin Champagnat’s first parish in France after he was ordained a priest. It is also the birthplace of the Marist Brothers who founded our College.
- The primary school and the secondary school will have the Marist Charism.
- A new website was unveiled
www.northsydneycatholicschools.nsw.edu.au
This site will contain updates on the plans for the Precinct. - Marist will have a second Assistant Principal appointed to manage the development of the precinct in terms of the move to co-education and the work in developing the pedagogy across K to 12.
- A separate area will be developed for the Year 7 and 8 students as co-education commences at Marist.
- Subcommittees will be created as required to explore different aspects of the planning. One will be created to look at the visual identity of the college in terms of college colours and new college crest.