Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School
Enriching spirits ~ Educating Minds
St Joseph's Primary School
1917 - St Joseph’s Primary opened underneath St Ursula’s College with 30-40 students, and about 25 boarders, established by the Presentation Sisters
1918 - Bishop Shiel blessed the church, on the ground floor of the three-storied building, in January
Staff
Mother Patrick Madden
Sr Stanislaus O’Rourke
Sr Clare McMahon
Sr Aquinas McReady
St Ursula’s secondary school
was opened in 1918.
1922
1920's
Celebration Plaque
Mary Hickey
Mary Hickey was born into a devout Catholic family and her parents were delighted that the Presentation Sisters were establishing a convent and Catholic school in Yeppoon. They watched with excitement as an impressive two storey building was constructed in the centre of their small coastal town. This was a welcome sight as World War 1 brought great worry to Mary’s family.
In 1917 Mary commenced her education at St Joseph’s School at the age of 5, along with 30 to 40 local boys and girls, and 25 boarders from country areas. Mary was taught by the Sisters under the main building, in an area with a dirt floor. The older children had lessons upstairs where there were classrooms and also living quarters for the boarders and Sisters.
Mary did not have a uniform when she started at the school, but as she grew older she was proud to wear a navy pleated skirt with a white blouse, navy socks or stockings, and black shoes. She dreamed of wearing a big, white sun hat just like the boarding girls!
A highlight of Mary’s school days was Sports Day when students were divided into the red and blue teams to compete. It was a treat to have a day away from the regular lessons of Religion, English, Maths and Handwriting.
About the Era
In 1901, Yeppoon was a township of 220 people with nine out of ten children unable to read or write. This community was greatly enriched by the establishment of a convent and school by the Presentation Sisters in 1917.
The first school building was a two storey structure in Queen Street which provided living space for the Sisters as well as classrooms and dormitories for the students. The primary school was opened in 1917 and was named St. Joseph’s School. There was some delay to the planned opening day due to severe flooding throughout the region preventing the Longreach and Emerald Sisters from reaching the school.
The secondary school opened in 1918 and was called St Ursula’s College.
As there was no Catholic church in Yeppoon, Sunday masses were celebrated in the school building until a separate parish church was built in 1929.
It is testimony to the dedication and sacrifice of the Presentation Sisters and the Catholic community, that in the midst of World War 1 a school was built and flourished in Yeppoon.
Memories
Jim Carroll
(biography by his daughter Kath Kehoe)
Jim Carroll was the youngest of seven children born to Margaret and John Joseph (Jack) Carroll. He was born in Rockhampton Base Hospital in 1907. The family had gradually made their way from Nambour towards Rockhampton. Jack was a blacksmith by trade and sometimes contracted to the new railway being built at that time.
By the time Jim was ready to start school the family was living at Mt Chalmers. His 15 year old sister Kitty was a pupil teacher there and he was fortunate to have her as his teacher. Classes were very large, and it was the custom for the teacher to appoint 'monitors' to help with jobs like handing out slates or pencils, cleaning the blackboard or taking messages. Jim's first day at school was notable for his telling his mother proudly,"Kitty made me her pencil monster."
The Sisters of St Joseph used to travel by train to give religious instruction at this school. They left the train at Mt Nicholson Station and had scones with Margaret before walking to Mt Chalmers, no doubt visiting people on the way.
When the land owned by the old Farnborough Mill was auctioned, Jack bought some of it and set up a dairy farm. So Jim was able to attend Sacred Heart School Yeppoon. He had a great respect for the education he received there, comparing it unfavourably with my own, when subjects studied were reduced to English, Maths and Social Studies. Jim was proud of his Exercise Book, as he called it. It is an example of the high standard expected of thirteen year olds in those days. Anyone old enough to remember mastering the steel nibbed pen and the ink well will know just what an achievement it was to produce a page of writing.
Jim often talked of walking through the bush between Yeppoon and Farnborough, and would imitate the birds he would hear. The old home the boys had helped Jack build on the farm was still standing in 1980 when my husband painted this watercolour of it. The farm was not too far from Farnborough Beach, and they used to leave the fishnet hanging in a tree at the beach.
On leaving school, Jim began work at Yeppoon Railway Station as a lad porter. This entitled him to a uniform, and the photo of him with his mother shows how he appreciated it and enjoyed wearing it. His first pair of long pants. Life was very full for him. he turned his hand to anything and seems to have had a rich and happy life. He sang in the church choir with his siblings, played the slide trombone in a band, sailed and swam, played tennis and cricket. Jim's early working life in Yeppoon seems to have been very happy.
As happened with most people in those days, he remained a railway worker all his working life, taking on different positions as he got more experience, and travelling around Central Queensland, and eventually working out of Central Station in Brisbane. His memories of his life as a young person in Yeppoon always remained a pleasant memory for him.
(Jim left Sacred Heart at age 13 and got a job in the railway at Yeppoon. The photo with his mother shows him wearing his railway uniform.)
Yeppoon History
Yeppoon - approximately 1920.
Bishops of Rockhampton Diocese
1912 – 1931 - Joseph Shiel