St Kevin's College, Melbourne

St Kevin's College, founded 1918, is a Catholic, all-boys primary and secondary school. The college is located in Toorak, Victoria, Australia. It has four campuses, three of which are in the suburb of Toorak; the fourth in Richmond. The school owned a campsite 'Silver Creek' in the town of Flowerdale which was completely destroyed by the Black Saturday bushfires. St. Kevin's was founded by the Christian Brothers. St Kevin's College is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria.

St. Kevin's overlooks Gardiners Creek, a tributary that runs into the Yarra River, with Scotch College on the opposite side. The college has a long-standing tradition with the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral and is responsible for the choral voices.^[1]

St Kevin's is a school of the Archdiocese of Melbourne,^[2] and is directed by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA)^[3] and the Headmaster is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),^[4] and is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS).^[5] and the IBSC (International Boys School Coalition).

History

The school was established in 1918 in East Melbourne by the Christian Brothers who set out to establish a strong tradition of high academic standards. St Kevin's was the matriculation centre for all of the Christian Brothers’ schools in Melbourne. With its early academic success, the enrolment soon outgrew its buildings in East Melbourne. In 1932, the school was moved to the corner of St George and Orrong Roads, Toorak. Property in Heyington was purchased and developed into playing fields. The Heyington Property is now the Senior School Campus, housing Years 7 to 8, and Years 10 through to year 12, in a vertical house system.

The Heyington Campus was built in 1960, notably the Kearney Building, which is visible on the approach from the Glen Waverley railway line. The Lansell Road property was opened in 1972, and that same year the Orrong road property was sold. In 1982, the K.C. Smith building was constructed for the middle school years on the Senior Campus, and in 1990 the Pavilion was opened. Since its opening, the Pavilion has flooded twice, both in 2005. Ovals one and two were completely submerged, resembling flooded school foyers in the 1970s.

Oval Number 1, Scoreboard in the background, and the Pavilion to the right.

The Cummins Building was refurbished in 1997, and currently houses the creative arts precinct, which includes arts, drama, music and artistic works. The McCarthy Building was opened in 1997, housing Art Studios, the Campus Library and the Administration Block. The Lansell Road property is now home to the Glendalough Campus, and in 1999 became a full primary school, housing prep to grade 6 students. Also in 1999, Year 9 students moved from the Senior Campus to a dedicated campus named Waterford in Richmond. Waterford currently resides in the former Vaucluse College FCJ site in Richmond.

In March 2006, a $16 million indoor pool, gym and sports facility, the Wilding Centre, was blessed by Cardinal George Pell and opened for the students.

In 2009 the Godfrey building was opened.

In 2010, the Boyd Egan Hall was opened at Glendalough and substantial floods filled the school's ovals and damaged the Fraser tennis courts.

In 2011, work began on a three storey 14 million dollar Science Wing, located adjacent to Heyington railway station at the end of the Kearney Building.

In 2013, the Kearney West building was officially opened. The building contains brand new science labs, chemistry labs and woodwork rooms, which are used for senior classes.

In 2014, the McMahon Music Centre was opened at Glendalough.

Campuses

St Kevin's College has four campuses:

• Glendalough – The St Kevin's Junior School it is named after the location of St Kevin's Monastery in Ireland. (P-6)
• Heyington – In 1932 the current site of Heyington was purchased and at the time was used for playing fields. It now serves as the main academic campus. (7,8,10,11,12)
• Waterford – Is the Year 9 campus, situated on Richmond Hill and occupies the facilities of the former Vaucluse College. (9)
• St. Peter's – An ELC Centre that is a co-venture with Loreto Mandeville Hall.

Curriculum

St Kevin's College offers its Years 11 and 12 students the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), the main assessment program which ranks the students in the state.

The class of 2009 have been highest-performing academic group in the history of the modern VCE for St Kevin's College, making St Kevin's in 2009 the top-performing, non-selective, all boys, Catholic and Associated Public Schools of Victoria member school, with 33 per cent of study scores at 40 or over, and 14 perfect scores were achieved across 10 subjects.^[6][7][8]

Co-curriculum

As part of upholding the value of "fullness of life" of the College, a number of initiatives are conducted:

Debating and public speaking

St Kevin's competes in the Debaters Association of Victoria Schools competition, and the Heyington Campus is the host venue for the Toorak regional competition. Five debates are held each year, and St Kevin's teams debate against other Melbourne schools on various current interest topics. St Kevin's participates in a range of other debating and public speaking tournaments, including those organised by Rotary, the RSL, UNYA and as of 2011, the WIDPSC, with one student competing representing Australia, and recording 8th place.^[9]

Sport

St Kevin's College is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria, the College teams take part in a competition providing a wide range of sports at different levels of achievement. In 2009 the College won the Soccer, Australian Rules Football and Rugby premierships – a feat that has never been achieved before in APS sporting history.

Theatre and drama

St Kevin's has a theatre department and each year produces a wide range of Plays, Musicals and Operas. A relationship between several different girls schools has been established to enhance the co-curricular dramatic arts program.

Aviation

St Kevin's College offers an aviation program to its students, and is the only secondary school in Australia to offer students the opportunity to earn a pilot's licence by the time they graduate.^[10] The program has been commended by aviators and industry experts such as the late Nancy Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ ^[11]

Coat of arms, crest and motto

The current school crest was adopted by Br Kearney in 1933. The school crest bears:

• The Celtic Cross, signifying Irish Heritage, in the top left quadrant,
• A single star, representing the Star of Knowledge in the top right quadrant,
• The Southern Cross representing Australia in the bottom left quadrant,
• A book with the Greek Letters Alpha and Omega scribed, symbolising God is all from beginning to end in the bottom right quadrant.
• Surmounting the shield is another Celtic Cross which represents faith in God.
• The school colours are, blue, green and gold.

The school's motto is, in Latin, 'Omnia Pro Deo' meaning 'All for God' or transliterated means 'All things for God'. This is taken from a letter of St Paul.

Relationship with other schools

St. Kevin's College, Toorak has a long-standing tradition with Loreto Mandeville Hall with whom it established an ELC Centre, St. Peter's. The College also has a strong establishment with fellow independent schools Korowa Anglican Girls' School, Sacré Cœur School, Genazzano FCJ College and St. Catherine's School.

Notable alumni

Politics, public service and the law

• Bill Bourke (2 June 1913 – 22 May 1981), a former politician and a former Labor federal Member for Fawkner.^[12]
• John Bourke, QC (30 June 1901 – 19 October 1970), a former Labor Member for St Kilda in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.^[13]
• Jack Comber (15 April 1919 – 23 October 1992), a former Labor federal Member for Bowman (Queensland).^[14]
• Barney Cooney (born 11 July 1934), a former Labor Senator for Victoria.^[15]
• Frank Field (23 December 1904 – 4 June 1985), a former Labor Member for Dandenong in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 10th Deputy Premier of Victoria.^[16]
• Jim McClelland (3 June 1915 – 16 January 1999), a former Labor Senator for New South Wales, solicitor, jurist, Minister in the Third Whitlam Ministry and Royal Commissioner.^[17]
• Clem Newton-Brown (born 3 September 1967), the former Liberal Member for Prahran in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.^[18]
• Peter Randles (10 June 1923 – 12 April 2008), a former Labor, Labor Anti-Communist and Democratic Labor Member for Brunswick in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.^[19]
• Scott Ryan (born 12 May 1973), a current Liberal Senator for Victoria.^[20]
• B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), a prominent Australian Roman Catholic, journalist and anti-Communist political activist who founded the Democratic Labor Party.
• Ted Serong, DSO OBE (11 November 1915 – 1 October 2002), was a senior officer of the Australian Army, most notable for his contributions to counter-insurgency and jungle warfare tactics during the Vietnam War.
• Charles Sweeney, QC, a Federal Court Judge.^[21]
• George White (14 January 1905 – 5 May 1986), a former Labor, Labor Anti-Communist and Democratic Labor Member for Mentone in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.^[22]

Sport

• Jordan De Goey (born 15 March 1996), a current Australian rules footballer with Collingwood.
• Neale Fraser AO MBE (born 3 October 1933), an Australian former World number 1 tennis champion.
• Simon Garlick (born 10 April 1975), a former Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs.
• Laurie Kerr (born 25 June 1928), a former Australian rules footballer with Carlton and founder of the Carlton Social Club at Princes Park.
• Phonse Kyne (29 October 1915 – 8 April 1985), a former Australian rules footballer, captain and coach with Collingwood. He is an inductee of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a member of the official Collingwood Team of the Century
• Allan La Fontaine (15 December 1910 – 14 December 1999), a former Australian rules footballer, captain and coach with Melbourne. He is an inductee of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a member of the official Melbourne Team of the Century.
• Tom Liberatore (born 16 May 1992), a current Australian rules footballer with Western Bulldogs.
• Josh Mahoney (born 31 October 1977), a former Australian rules footballer with Port Adelaide.
• Touk Miller (born 22 February 1996), a current Australian rules footballer with the Gold Coast
• Tony Morwood (born 17 May 1960), a former Australian rules footballer with Sydney Swans. A member of the Official Sydney Swans Team of the Century.
• Bill Nettlefold (born 24 April 1953), a former Australian rules footballer with North Melbourne, Richmond and Melbourne.
• Tom Nicholls (born 4 March 1992), a current Australian rules footballer with the Gold Coast.
• Ryan O'Keefe (born 24 January 1981), a current Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans.
• Connor Pain (born 11 November 1993), a current Australian football (soccer) player with Melbourne Victory.
• Luke Penny (born 8 February 1981), a former Australian rules footballer with Western Bulldogs and St Kilda.
• Stephen Powell (born 7 September 1976), a former Australian rules footballer with Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, and St Kilda.
• Alex Rowe (born 8 July 1992) National 800m record holder, Australian Champion for 800m
• Brad Scott (born 3 May 1976), a former Australian rules footballer and current coach with North Melbourne.
• Chris Scott (born 3 May 1976), a former Australian rules footballer with the Brisbane Lions and the current coach of Geelong.
• Mitch Wallis(born 24 October 1992), a current Australian rules footballer with the Western Bulldogs.

Media, entertainment and the arts

• Greg Craven, the current Vice-Chancellor at the Australian Catholic University, an advocate of republicanism, and an author.^[23]
• Mark Davis, an Australian journalist best known for his work on Dateline, won five Walkley awards, including the prestigious Gold Walkley.
• Joel Deane, an acclaimed Australian novelist and poet, former chief speech writer for Victorian Premier Steve Bracks.
• Simon Hall, a member of the popular commedy group Tripod
• Vance Joy (real name James Keogh), a singer-songwriter.
• Greg Kerr, an author and writer.
• Nick Murphy, also known as Chet Faker
• Stevie Nicholson, a member of the popular Australian children's musical group Hi-5.
• Damien Parer, an Australian war photographer who was the cinematographer for Australia's first Oscar winning film, Kokoda Front Line.^[24]
• Sam Sejavka, a playwright, actor and musician
• Rob Sitch, an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and actor.
• E W (Bill) Tipping, a Walkley-award winning journalist.^[25]
• Victor McMahon, virtuoso flautist, educator (1903–1992).

Clergy

• Mark Coleridge,^[26] current Roman Catholic Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
• William Lombard, Catholic priest, established the Young Christian Workers movement in Australia ^[27]

See also

• List of schools in Victoria, Australia
• List of high schools in Victoria

References

External links

• St. Kevin's College website
• St. Kevin's College Boat Club website
• St. Kevin's College Rugby Club website