St Gregory's College, Campbelltown

St Gregory's College (abbreviated as SGC or Greg's or St Greg's) is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Gregory Hills, near Campbelltown, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With specialist expertise as an agricultural school, St Gregory's College provides a co-educational environment for students in the Year K to Year 6 primary school; and a boys-only environment for students in the Year 7 to Year 12 secondary schools.

St Gregory's College
Main building and original chapel, c. 1942
Location
St Gregory's College
100 Badgally Road, Gregory Hills, south-western Sydney, New South Wales

Australia
Coordinates34°2′23″S 150°47′20″E
Information
Former nameSt Gregory's Agricultural College
TypeIndependent single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school
MottoLatin: Quae Seminaveris Metes
(What you sow, so shall you reap[1])
Religious affiliation(s)
DenominationRoman Catholicism
Established1926 (1926)[2]
Founders
Educational authorityNew South Wales Department of Education
OversightDiocese of Wollongong
SpecialistAgricultural school
HeadmasterLee MacMaster
ChaplainJohn Roberts, OFM
Staff157 (FTE)[3]
YearsK-12
Gender
Enrolment1,100[4] (2007)
Campus3 hectares (7.4 acres)
Colour(s)Maroon and sky blue         
NicknameGreg's, St. Greg's, SGC
Affiliations
  • Australian Boarding Schools' Association
  • Independent Schools Association
  • Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia
Websitewww.stgregs.nsw.edu.au

Founded on 3 February 1926 and conducted by the Marist Brothers since 1929, St Gregory's has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,100 students, including 180 boarders.[4]

The College is located within the Diocese of Wollongong,[5] and is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[6] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association,[4] the Association of Marist Schools of Australia,[7] and is an associate member of the Independent Schools Association (ISA).

History

Early days

St Gregory's College commenced operations in 1926. The property on which the College is located was owned by Thomas Donovan. In the early 1920s he contacted the Marist Brothers about starting a school for boys to help them learn the skills to have careers.

St Greg's Intermediate class, circa 1932

St Gregory’s commenced operations as a boarding school on 3 February 1926 with five Marist Brothers as staff, and two students (The Cuskelly Brothers). By the end of the year the student numbers had risen to ten.

In 1929 the estate was handed over to the Marist Brothers by Thomas Donovan. Donovan intended that St Gregory's College should exist for country boys whom he would endow with bursaries. Much of the early infrastructure was also donated by Mr Donovan, for example the Chapel, classrooms and the first dormitory.

The foundation Principal in 1926 was Br Felix. However, before the end of the first year he was recalled to his position at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. Br Laurentius who was on the staff took over the position. Br Laurentius was only 27 years old but suffered from ill health. Enrolments climbed to around 50 students despite the College not having main electricity or a reliable supply of water.

The Great Depression saw enrolments drop to ten students and the College was threatened with closure. Principal Br Laurentius died in 1933 after a long illness. Br Antoninus was appointed the new Principal and led the College during the Depression years.

Recent history

The College has hosted the Marist cricket and basketball Carnival's, Won the Arrive Alive and Nutri-Grain Cup. In 2008 St Gregory's had a mass in celebration of the "Journey of the World Youth Day Cross and Icon" just months before World Youth Day in which the college was very involved.

In 2018, the College became a K-12 school, with the opening of the Junior School on the College grounds. The Junior and Senior schools are administered separately, under the direction of the Headmaster and the Trustees. The Junior School is co-educational, and the Senior School is a single-sex school for boys only. Girls must seek an alternate secondary school at which to complete their senior education.

Sexual abuse allegations

In June, July and August 2014 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse initiated in 2013 by the Australian Government and supported by all of its state governments,[8] began an investigation into the response of Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse in schools in the ACT, NSW and Queensland.[9] Five former students, one former teacher, a former assistant principal and two former principals, former and current Marist officials and clergy, and one of the clergy at the centre of the allegations gave evidence or made statements before the Royal Commission[10] that the alleged cases of abuse happened during the 1970s, and 1980s at Daramalan College, Canberra, at Lismore, Campbelltown and in Far North Queensland.[11][12][13][14]

In March 2015 a former Marist brother was arrested over a number of sex offences allegedly committed at St Joseph's College and St Gregory's College in the 1980s.[15]

Campus

The College is situated on a single three-hectare (seven-acre) campus. Previously, the land owned by the College once exceeded 405 hectares (1,000 acres) before most of it was sold to create the Gregory Hills housing sub-division,[16] located in the suburb of Gregory Hills (a suburb located within Camden Council) and approximately 43 kilometres (27 mi) from the Sydney central business district. St Gregory's is located on Badgally Hill, the second highest peak between Sydney and the Great Dividing Range.

Boarding

Boarders of St Gregory's College live in houses named after a significant Brother in the College's history.

List of Headmasters
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

The following individuals have served as Headmaster of St Gregory's College, Campbelltown:

OrdinalOfficeholderTerm startTerm endTime in officeNotes
1Br. Felix19261926 years[17]
2Br. Laurentius192619336–7 years
3Br. Antoninus193319373–4 years
4Br. William Molloy1937
5Br. Ambrose Brady
6Br. Valens Boyle
7Br. Angelus McKinnley
8Br. Coman Sykes1957
9Br. Anslem Saundersxc. 1960
10Br. Charles Howard
(formerly Brother Elias)
11Br. Frederick McMahon
12Br. Clarence Cunningham
13Br. Ernest Houston
14Br. Geoffrey Schwager
15Br. William Connell
16Br. Paul Houghc. 199020009–10 years
17Marshall McMahon200120076–7 years
18Br. Peter Pemble200820080 years[18]
19Damian Millar2009201810 years
20Lee MacMaster2019incumbent

Co-curriculum

Sport

St Gregory's College has a strong reputation in sport. St Gregory's is known for its success in rugby league, cricket and in the last decade, soccer.

In 2008 the First XI winning the MCS competition, 2007 Australasian Marist Carnival and joint premiers in the Combined Catholic College's Downey Trophy, with 22 wins and 0 losses all season. The College has been dubbed "A Nursery for Rugby League Players" and with this Rugby League is very strong culture at the College as St Gregory's compete in the MCS competition and the Arrive Alive Cup and have been champions on a record 9 occasions and Runners Up twice. Strong support from the College community is present at semi-finals and finals in the MCS competition and all Arrive Alive Cup matches. St Gregory's won the 2010 MCS Rugby League Grand Final defeating Patrician Brother's Blacktown in the final 24-10 coached by Lee Addison. They also retained their title in 2011, thus becoming the first team from the college since 1994 to achieve back to back titles. Rugby Union is also becoming part of the sporting culture at the College with the boarding community representing the College against teams in the GPS and ISA sporting competitions. In 2008,only the second year of "serious" competitive Rugby Union fixtures, St Gregory's made the semifinals of the Waratah Shield, losing to fellow ISA school St Augustine's College held at St Joseph's College. The college has reached the final of the MCS Soccer competition 4 out of the last 5 years. The College provides facilities for the students with 8 rugby league/union fields, 3 cricket fields, 3 football (Soccer) fields, swimming pool, tennis courts, cricket nets, outdoor and indoor basketball courts and a College gymnasium.

Sports played at the college include: Rugby League, Cricket, Football (Soccer), Basketball, Rugby Union, Australian Rules Football, Touch Football, Golf, Tennis, Athletics, Cross Country, Swimming, and Softball.

St Gregory's College is known as a nursery to the National Rugby League (NRL) with some notable players representing several NRL teams along with State and National honours. On Grand Final day 2007 saw each 3 grandfinals Jersey Flegg, Premier League and the NRL Telstra Premiership had a representative from St Gregory's College. Rugby League is the dominant sport in St Gregory's College.

Debating and public speaking

Debating and public speaking has had a long history at St Gregory's College. The College represents itself in the Competition for Public Speaking and Debating. The College also participates in the regular seasons of the named curricula. The CSDA is the debating competition in which St. Gregory's College. Public Speaking is also widely encouraged at St. Gregory's with multiple competitions throughout the school year. The CSDA competition is an outside run competition in which the school selects students to attend, the Gordon Fetterplace Public Speaking Competition which is a school run competition. Finally the Marist Oratary is entered for the best public speakers of the college.

Until 2008 the Year 12 debating trophy was named for Douglas Berneville-Claye a former teacher who was a convicted criminal and British traitor.[19]

Agriculture

Once based on 526 hectares (1,300 acres) and, until 1990, called "St Gregory's Agricultural College"[20] it was home to a commercial dairy, cattle, poultry, piggery and popular rodeo timed to coincide with the Fisher's Ghost Festival.[21] The school began a land cost analysis in the late 1980s, assigning senior Agricultural students the task of identifying value as their major project for the HSC. The school appears to have stepped back from this history and little publicly available evidence remains outside of hardcopy yearbooks.

The College still competes in various aspects of agriculture. As well as running agriculture classes and its reduced College farm, the College participates in show cattle and show sheep competitions and programs. Most recently the College participated at the annual Sydney Royal Easter Show, Camden Show and Dubbo Show.

Notable alumni

Alumni of St Gregory's College are commonly referred to as 'Old Boys' and may choose to join the schools alumni association, the St Gregory's College Old Boys Association.[22]

Entertainment, media and the arts

Politics, public service and the law

Sport
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See also

References
  1. "Annual School Report 2006" (PDF). Introduction. St Gregory's College. 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  2. "St Gregory's College". New South Wales. School Choice. 2007. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  3. "St Gregory's College". MySchools Australia. 2011.
  4. "St Gregory's College". New South Wales Schools. Australian Boarding Schools Association. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  5. "Congregational Schools". Systemic Schools (CEO, Wollongong). Catholic Diocese of Wollongong. 2007. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  6. "AHISA Schools: New South Wales". New South Wales. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. April 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  7. "Member School Links". Member Schools. Association of Marist Schools of Australia. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  8. "Letters Patent". Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  9. "Case Study 13, June 2014, Canberra". Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  10. "Witness List and Order". Public hearing into the response by the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  11. Gilbert, Ewan (10 June 2014). "Royal commission into child sexual abuse: Canberra hearings to examine Marist Brothers response". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  12. Ellery, David (10 August 2014). "Marist Brothers' schools director should be sacked, say sex abuse victim and lawyer". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  13. Marszalek, Jessica (11 June 2014). "Northern links in royal commission into child sexual abuse at Marist Brothers school". Cairns Post. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  14. Box, Dan (30 June 2014). "Complaints about Marist brother Kostka Chute allege 31 years of abuse". The Australian. Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  15. Browne, Rachel (21 March 2015). "Former Catholic brother charged with child sex offences at St Joseph's and St Gregory's colleges". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  16. "About Us". Our School. St Gregory's College. 2007. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  17. "A Brief History". Our College. St Gregory's College, Campbelltown. 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  18. Crowe, Brother Jeffrey (23 July 2015). "Statement regarding Brother Peter Pemble" (PDF) (Press release). Marist Brothers’ Province of Australia. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  19. McGill, Jeff (25 March 2009). "Campbelltown 'hero' linked to Nazis". Campbelltown - Macarthur Advertiser. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2014. ST GREGORY’S College has dumped the name of its traditional public speaking cup – the Douglas Berneville-Claye Trophy – after discovering that its namesake was a traitor.
  20. "awards 2006" (PDF). NSW ASSOCIATION OF AGRICULTURE TEACHERS.
  21. "Current details for ABN 63 665 601 284". abr.business.gov.au. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  22. "Old Boys Registration". Our School. St Gregory's College. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  23. Pearce, Suzannah, ed. (17 November 2006). "BREEN Peter James". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  24. Pearce, Suzannah, ed. (17 November 2006). "CHAYTOR Steven". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  25. "Hardman, Benedict Paul". Re-Member. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  26. Pearce, Suzannah, ed. (17 November 2006). "PICCOLI Adrian". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  27. Pearce, Suzannah, ed. (17 November 2006). "Stephens, Thomas Gregory". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  28. Pearce, Suzannah, ed. (17 November 2006). "Tilley, William John". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  29. Paul Tovua
  30. "Peter Cusack". Player Profile. South Sydney Rabbitohs. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 September 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  31. "Storm snaps up schoolboy star". The Age. Melbourne. AAP. 25 July 2002. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  32. Bertola, Vera (8 August 2007). "Emergence of a kid with star quality". The Liverpool Leader. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
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