Loreto Convent Dawson Street, 1875-1977
Loreto Convent Dawson Street opened on 4 November 1875 when Mother Gonzaga Barry realised the need for a day school for the town community. Originally the Loreto Sisters travelled from Mary’s Mount to Dawson Street each day, until the convent community was established in 1882.
Officially the school was called ‘Convent of Our Lady of Loretto’, but was generally referred to as ‘Loreto Ladies’ College’, ‘Loreto Convent’, or simply ‘Loreto Dawson Street’.
In 1922 the South Wing was built, which included the front entrance hall, parlour, library, dining room and cells on the ground floor, and chapel, classrooms and cells on the first floor. The stained glass windows were also installed. These are now located in the Mary’s Mount Centre, Loreto College.
Loreto Convent also included a school for younger students; this primary school was closed during the 1970s.
During this time, it was also decided that Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount and Loreto Convent Dawson Street would amalgamate to form one school: Loreto College Ballarat. Leaving and Matriculation classes had already been transferred to Mary’s Mount in 1958.
In 1978, the Dawson Street site became the junior campus of Loreto College Ballarat, for students in Years 7 and 8.
Loreto College Year 7 & 8 Campus, 1978-2006
From 1978 to 2006, the Dawson Street school was the Year 7 and 8 campus of Loreto College Ballarat.
In 2007, the Year 7s and 8s moved to a new building on the Mary’s Mount campus, and the Dawson Street site was closed and sold.
St Joseph’s School, 1877-1975
St Joseph’s, the local parish primary school moved to Lyons Street in 1877, with he students to be taught by the Loreto nuns. Previously it had been taught by secular teachers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
In 1975 St Joseph’s was amalgamated with Dawson Street Junior School, and then in 1985 it merged with the Christian Brothers’ Primary School to become St Patrick’s Primary School in 1985, and moved to Drummond Street.
Commercial College, 1962-1996
Loreto Commercial College opened in 1962, and taught classes in Typewriting, Shorthand, Bookkeeping, Business English and Office Practice to women looking to start work in the business sector. Subjects expanded to include Arithmetic, Deportment, Speech and Ethics.
The College closed in 1996 when changes in technology, the increasing need for University degrees in Business, and the new two-year VCE course meant that the Commercial College was no longer viable.
Training College for Catholic Women Teachers, 1884-1905
By the 1880s, the need for trained teachers in Catholic schools was increasing rapidly. Mother Gonzaga Barry opened the Catholic Training College for Teachers at Dawson Street in 1884. Trainee teachers were able to practice in the classrooms of St Joseph’s Primary.
The Prospectus stated that the aim of the Catholic Training College was “to supply efficient Teachers for Catholic schools, by training young girls who intend to adopt teaching as a profession.” Students started at the age of 14 and trained for five years.
The Teachers’ College closed in 1906 when the Archbishop encouraged a Melbourne college, the Central Catholic Teachers College in Albert Park (also run by the Loreto Sisters).
Aerial photo of Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, c.1930
This aerial photo of Loreto Abbey, Mary’s Mount is estimated to have been taken c.1930, possibly as early as the late 1920s. The tennis courts that can be seen in ‘the Paddock’ on the northern side were built in 1923. An aerial photo of Wendouree in 1934 shows all houses built on the land to the west of the school.
The central part of the school is still clearly recognisable in a current aerial photograph: the Chapel, and front façade consisting of the Abbey building and Residence building frame the circuit of the front drive.
Other key features:
- St Anne’s Primary School in the southeast corner, with a fenced in garden. The Gatekeeper’s Lodge is just in front, beside the school gates.
- To the right of St. Anne’s is St. Joseph’s Grotto, and the Cemetery where Mother Gonzaga Barry is buried.
- Extensive vegetable gardens filled the rest of the eastern side of the grounds.
- The low, narrow buildings beside the three-storey Residential Wing are the music cells. These were relocated in 1953 to make room for the new St. Anne’s Wing, which was opened in 1955.
- Behind the Residential Wing is the ‘old’ tennis court.
- At the back, along Wendouree Parade (hidden behind trees) is St Cecilia’s Hall. Built in 1903, it would eventually be replaced in 1974 by the new Gonzaga Barry Wing, which housed the library, science rooms and a hall with a stage and music rooms. This was in turn partly replaced by the Mulhall Centre, opened in 2016.
- The ‘Paddock’ (where the current school oval is) housed more tennis courts, and the Infirmary (an 1880s brick building in the southwest corner).
Kindergarten students with M. Brendan Regan, 1969
Just inside the front gates of Loreto College is a small building that has served many purposes throughout its history.
St Anne’s Primary School, 1908-1920
The building was originally constructed as St Anne’s Parish Primary School in 1908 for local Catholic students who could not easily access the schools in central Ballarat. A small gate in the wall was built allowing the primary students easy access to their school, where they were taught by Loreto sisters and novices. The school closed circa 1920.
NEW PRIMARY SCHOOL. (1908, February 1). Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954), p. 21. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169892143
Finishing School, 1920s-1930s
During the 1920s and 1930s the building operated as a finishing School led by accomplished artist and teacher, Mother Catherine Goddard.
Kindergarten, 1941
In 1941, the old primary school building became a kindergarten. In 1962-63 extensions were added to the existing brick building to accommodate the growing numbers of students. Girls who graduated from the kindergarten became the first day students at Mary’s Mount.
The kindergarten closed in 1978, with most of the equipment given to other local kindergartens.
The Cottage, 1978-2011
After Loreto Abbey and Loreto Convent schools amalgamated to form Loreto College Ballarat in 1978, the kindergarten buildings become known as “The Cottage”. At first it was used for Year 11 retreats and Religious Education classes. Later the building became a space for both drama classes and retreats.
Loreto Archives Centre, 2012 – present
In 2012 the buildings were renovated once more to become the Loreto Archives Centre.
Honoria Regan (Mother Brendan Regan)
Honoria Regan, known as Nora, was born on 9 September 1899 in Sturt Street, Ballarat, next door to the Bishop’s Palace. Her mother, Mary Ellen Underwood, was born in Elmhurst and met Nora’s father, Michael Regan, while he was working in the Education Department in Melbourne. Michael was born in Kerry and had run away to sea, settling in Melbourne. The couple were married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Ballarat and Nora was their first child, the eldest of four. The family moved to Melbourne in 1904 and Nora and her siblings were educated at St. Paul’s Coburg and then the Catholic Ladies College in East Melbourne.
At the age of three Nora contracted rheumatic fever and spent six weeks in hospital and a year recuperating. This left her with a permanent weakness which seemingly never held her back.
In 1915 Nora was sent as a boarder to Sacred Heart College in East Ballarat where she matriculated. She trained as a teacher at the Sisters of Mercy’s Ascot Vale Training College and studied art at Our Lady’s College Heidelberg.
Following a long held desire to become a nun, she made the choice to join the Loreto Sisters, with whom her family had been associated in Ballarat, where she would continue her study of art under the tutelage of artist and teacher, Mother Catherine Goddard. On entering in 1922 she was at first given the religious name, de Chantal, and then Brendan which later became Brenda when nuns were allowed to choose their names.
Mother Brendan taught at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak and then, SS Peter & Paul’s South Melbourne but became ill and was transferred to Mary’s Mount Ballarat where she remained for the rest of her life. She was head of the Junior School as well as teaching music and art in the senior school.
In 1941 a Kindergarten was opened at Mary’s Mount with Mother Brendan in charge providing, for many years, early learning for Ballarat’s boys and girls. The Kindergarten was located on the site of what is now Loreto College Ballarat, and in the building that had been built as the parish primary school of St. Anne’s in 1908 and is now the Loreto Archives Centre. In 1963 the Kindergarten underwent considerable refurbishment. Mother Brendan remained in charge until 1948 and then, again in 1956 until 1972 when she retired from teaching.
During her retirement Sister Brenda contributed her handmade toys and gifts for community fetes and other Ballarat fundraisers. She made floral decorations, read widely and kept in contact with the many children she had taught during her over 55 years of teaching.
Brenda Regan died on 14 May 1987 at St. John of God Hospital.
The Orchestra, 1957
A Loreto Education always included the Arts: Music, Dance, Theatre and Fine Arts. The Loreto Sisters who taught these lessons had extensive educations and experience themselves prior to joining the convent.
The 1901 Loreto Abbey Prospectus features several photos of the school orchestra, and individual musicians.
In addition to performance arts, students were also encouraged to write articles, poems and stories for the school publication, ‘Eucalyptus Blossoms’.
Read the magazine here: https://www.loreto.org.au/records/loretto-eucalyptus-blossoms/
Music
The 1901 Loreto Abbey Prospectus features several photos of the school orchestra, and individual musicians. Students were taught individually, and how to play as part of an ensemble. Music examinations were held at the school, with students achieving university certificates.
Theatre
Dramatic performances took the form of religious tableaux, carefully costumed and posed to depict significant biblical and historical events. Later, with the building of St Cecilia’s Hall, the school staged theatre productions that involved all students, from the primary school through to matriculation years.
Art
Lucy Kerley, on art classes in the 1920s:
“Before this there was a subject called Drawing, which involved geometric drawing and perspective, etc. But, at Kate’s [M. Catherine Goddard] instigation, an alternative was devised which included History of Art and Architecture, Design, Free hand drawing and perspective… Kate had an ancient epidiascope, an antique contraption depending on the use of mirrors, which she used to throw reproductions of paintings of the Old Masters on to a large screen.”
