St Margaret Mary's College is a girls school in the city of Townsville, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

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History

In 1936, the first Sisters of the Good Samaritan

Sisters of the Good Samaritan

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan is a Roman Catholic Congregation of religious women commenced by , Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congregation was the first religious congregation to be founded in Australia. The sisters form an apostolic institute...

arrived in Townsville to run the Saint Margaret Mary’s Primary school. Bishop McGuire had purchased ‘Woodlands’, in Hyde Park from the Cummins family so that it could be used as a convent, which the Sisters named Saint Philomena’s. In 1956 the present Church was opened.

Saint Margaret Mary’s College was officially opened on 22 February 1963 by the then Bishop of Townsville, Reverend H.E. Ryan. The school consisted of four classrooms, one office, staffroom, tuckshop, cloakroom and a ‘modern’ science lecture room. Fifty students were enrolled, although the school had capacity for 200 girls. The school was operated by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and the first Principal was Sr Mary de Lourdes. The parish priest at the time, Monsignor Vandeluer, was the driving force behind the establishment of the College. The first lay Principal was Mr Mike Byrne who was appointed in 1982.

Over the years the College has shaped its curriculum to reflect current educational trends and best practice. In 1997, Vocational, Education and Training (VET) subjects were introduced.

Campus

In the last few years Saint Margaret Mary's College has seen a number of major projects that include: the development of the gym, a textiles room, a new chapel and tuckshop as well as renovations to the kitchen, library, administration block and laboratories. In 2005 two new computer rooms and class rooms were built and refurbishment commenced to create four state of the art Science rooms and a Graphics room. This refurbishment has since been completed and is now currently enjoyed by the 600+ students of the college. Current projects include the building of a multi-purpose undercover sport facility and an extension to the library/staffroom.