St Patrick's College

St Patrick's College, Launceston, evolved from a threefold Catholic tradition beginning with the opening of Sacred Heart College by the Presentation Sisters in 1873. The Christian Brothers opened St Patrick's College in York Street in 1919, and the Sisters of St Joseph established St Thomas More's school in 1938. St Patrick's opened a senior campus at Prospect Vale in 1958 while York Street became the preparatory school. The trend to co-education and larger units saw the three schools gradually amalgamate to form one. Sacred Heart and St Thomas More's amalgamated in 1978 to form Marian College and six years later Marian and St Patrick's joined together. At first the new school was spread over two campuses, but in 1998 the Year 7 students were able to join the rest of the school at the greatly enlarged facilities at Prospect. In 2003 the College had an enrolment of over 1200, making it the largest secondary school in Tasmania.

Further reading: J Brophy, St. Patrick's College, Launceston, Launceston, 1992.

Dennis Mann