St. Mary’s Primary School History

On April, the 14^th 1901, the foundation stone was laid for the Beaudesert Convent School and the school was opened on the 19^th of August with 101 enrolled students. The old school continued to be used until the late 1930’s when moves were made to replace it with brick school rooms.

This same building still stands within the grounds of St. Mary’s, it is one of the first buildings seen as you enter the grounds and is now known as Mercy Hall.

The following is a report on the condition of the old school and what is planned for its future from the Beaudesert Times in August of 1939:

Old St. Mary’s School at Beaudesert is still sound in its timber, but through the years has lurched forward somewhat on its high blocks. The Plumb-bob tells that the blocks have got out of the perpendicular between 6 and 7 inches; two or three stumps of bloodwood have fallen out altogether and bearers in two or three cases are no longer resting on their appointed stumps. It was deemed that if the old structure was to be of any further use, it had to be lowered on its blocks without delay. Mr Cyril Siebenhausen has the contract and was on the job last Monday morning. The Sisters and pupils made an exodus from the old school and are now holding classes in St. Mary’s Church until the opening of the new school on September 3, as when the old school is put on low blocks it will be re-christened St. Mary’s Parish Hall.

It is proposed to do nothing further with the old building until such time as the debt incurred on the new school has been liquidated or at least until the way out of the wood is apparent. It will be opened at once for parish meetings and parish functions and if a dancing clientele favours it, a new floor in crow’s ash might be considered at no distant date. Sometime or other when the parish debt is liquidated propositions no doubt will be forthcoming to erect a kitchenette on one verandah and convert the other into a supper room. However, at date such propositions are in the lap of the Gods. As the old school now is, it will be of much use. Dancing rehearsals for the coming Convent Children’s ball have already been held in it and Mr. A Hood proposes to hold rehearsals of the musical comedy which he now has in hand, in the old building.

Archbishop Duhig blessed and opened the new school on September 3^rd, 1939 (the day of the outbreak of World War II). Some 187 children were confirmed at the third Mass of the day after which the opening ceremony began. The Beaudesert Times report on the proceedings follows:

“At the close of the service the men of the parish and the Confirmees formed a guard of honour from the church to the school building and His Grace, accompanied by the Parish Priest (Rev. Fr. D.M. O’Keeffe), Rev. Fr. C.J. Whyte and Altar boys, proceeding to the school moved between two rows of men and children three deep”.

The following is the Beaudesert Times’ description of the new school building:

“The school is a two-storey brick structure of attractive design. There are three class rooms on each floor and each floor has a verandah on the northern side. Two staircases provide communication with the upper floor and are lighted by glass bricks in the outer wall. Water is laid on and electric light is provided. The furnishings include desks, each to seat four, with lift tops and backs to the seats.

In order to increase the water supply, made necessary by the additional requirements of the septic installation, Mr. C. J. Brosnan was commissioned to fit a motor pump to the well. This pump which is supplementary to the windmill is worked by electric motor, which is controlled by an ingenious automatic switch, which does not allow the water in the elevated tank to get below a certain level. The play is a solid structure and around the walls are rows of metal compartments in which the children will store their lunches and other property. A new fence is being put along the front of the whole property and considerable improvements to the grounds will be carried out a little later”.

After the building was Blessed by the Archbishop, Fr. O’Keeffe addressed those gathered, stating that it was his pleasure and privilege to welcome His Grace to Beaudesert, on behalf of the Catholic people of Logan to open the school. He then went on to talk about the opening of the Sisters of Mercy and the Convent school in 1901, Fr. O’Keeffe further stated that some time ago he had decided to build a new school and had consulted with the Archbishop on this matter.

In continuing Fr. O’Keeffe referred to the financial costs of the construction and outfitting of the school and stated that he thought, “they had got through a big job very creditably”.

The final cost was put at £4204 and he appealed to the Catholics of the Logan District and many friends who did not belong to it, to give subscriptions. Fr. O’Keeffe continued saying “it was a very fine school, he said that could have been built at less cost, that he could have saved £100 on the furniture, but as they had a good building, he thought it would have been foolish to furnish it poorly”.

He then asked His Grace to open the building. After declaring the school Open the Archbishop, then addressed those gathered and his words as reported in the Times follow:

“His Grace said he had been to Beaudesert many times, in connection with Confirmation and opening new buildings or extensions. The first he had anything to do with was an extension to the old convent. Then came the disastrous fire. Fortunately, the building was insured and at that time they had at the head of affairs in Beaudesert a very fine man, Fr. Hennessy, who, he was very sorry to say, had since retired from active service. Fr. Hennessy did not leave the Sisters without a home for long and he built the new Convent as permanently as Fr. O’Keeffe had built this school – in brick.

The idea of building a new school, continued His Grace, originated with Fr. O’Keeffe, because he knew the disadvantage the Sisters and the children were labouring under in the old building. A poor badly lighted building has a depressing effect on all those connected with it and a dull school has a bad effect on teachers and taught alike. So, when Fr. O’Keeffe decided to build a new school, he said “he would have one worthwhile”.

A feature of the city today is the large number of beautiful schools. All of them are not Government schools, although it is easy for the Government to build them, because they get the money from the taxpayers. There are some very handsome Catholic schools and the Catholic people have had to pay for them. Why I mention this is because the country children deserve just as good and beautiful things as city children – perhaps, more so. This school is a credit to the Catholic community and an ornament to the town and is a sign of your confidence in Beaudesert and surrounding districts. I have been over Beaudesert in an aeroplane many times and I have always been glad to look down and see the chief feature of Beaudesert is this group of buildings.

Everything in this school is up-to-date. There are beautiful class rooms, which is a great improvement on the old one room building. Those upstairs can be thrown into one when you have a concert or meeting. Water is laid on and everything is in beautiful order. The septic system has been installed and this is very necessary for children’s health. Next to their souls, nothing is so important as their health and healthy schools are most necessary. Fr. O’Keeffe is not a lavish spendthrift, but he has done everything decently.

I would remind you, that while you have one hundred children in this school, we are educating 15,000 in the Archdiocese of Brisbane and about double that number in the whole of Queensland”.

In September of 1951 the Golden Jubilee was celebrated in the school grounds, this was attended by many of the original pupils.

On September 28^th, 1958, around 300 people witnessed the opening at the Beaudesert Convent School of two large classrooms, situated on the second floor leaving a large space underneath for recreational purposes, these classrooms were opened by Archbishop Duhig after which the Parish Priest the Right Rev. Mgr. O. B. Steele, tendered a welcome to His Grace and congratulated him on his recovery from his recent accident, he then went on to address the crowd gathered in front of the building which included, His Grace, Mr R. L. Harrison (MLA Darlington ) and Mr. Eugene Tilley (Chairman of the Shire Council) and a number of priests from neighbouring parishes, explaining the necessity for the additions to the school were due to the large increase in the number of pupils attending.

1968 saw further extensions at the school, these consisted of a brick class room block with toilet rooms, tuck shop, Mother Superiors office, teachers staff room and offices. Bishop Kennedy, Auxiliary, Brisbane, blessed and opened the new class room block on Sunday, August 11^th, he was welcomed by the Parish Priest Mgr. O. B. Steele, OBE, and the large crowd included Mr. A.G. Miller (MLA Fassifern) and Mr. Eugene Tilley (Chairman of the Shire Council).

In the early hours of August 19^th, 2013, almost 74 years after it was first built St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School’s main building was gutted by fire. At about 12:40am, emergency services were called, where they found the building engulfed by flames. By 3am firefighters had brought the blaze under control but not before extensive damage had been done.

The building contained the school administration, staff room, four classrooms, storerooms and a toilet block. The administration block had stood at St Mary’s since 1939 and was heavily damaged in the fire, but its exterior was able to be salvaged, allowing the school to rebuild it. The famous stained-glass windows were also able to be incorporated into the new foyer. 

“It’s great to be back to see the phoenix rise from the ashes; to see something bigger and better and more beautiful arise from the ruins”

These were the words of Archbishop Mark Coleridge on February 20^th, 2015, when he Blessed and Opened the school’s new $2 million state-of-the-art Year 5 and 6 building, as well as the refurbished administration building, Archbishop Coleridge’s visit was a part of the St Mary’s School’s open day, designed to thank those in the community who contributed to the rebuilding of the school after the devastating fire in 2013.