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| Aquinas College | |
|---|---|
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 The school's main buildingfacade | |
| Location | |
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Salter Point,Perth, Western Australia Australia | |
| Coordinates | 32°1′27″S115°51′53″E / 32.02417°S 115.86472°E /-32.02417; 115.86472 |
| Information | |
| Type | Independentsingle-sexprimary andsecondaryday andboarding school |
| Motto | Latin:Veritas Vincit (Truth Conquers[1]) |
| Religious affiliation | Congregation of Christian Brothers |
| Denomination | Roman Catholicism |
| Patron saint | Saint Thomas Aquinas |
| Established | 1894; 131 years ago (1894) 1938; 87 years ago (1938)[2] |
| Sister school | Santa Maria College, Perth |
| Trust | Edmund Rice Education Australia |
| Chairman | Clive Bingwa |
| Headmaster | Robert Henderson |
| Staff | ~100[3] |
| Years | K–12 |
| Gender | Boys |
| Enrolment | c. 1,330 |
| Colours | Red and black |
| Nickname | Redbacks |
| Affiliations |
|
| Alumni | Old Aquinians |
| Designated | 17 December 2010 |
| Reference no. | 2396 |
| Website | www |
Aquinas College, informally known asAquinas orAC, is anindependentRoman Catholicsingle-sexprimary andsecondaryday andboarding school for boys, located atSalter Point, a suburb ofPerth, Western Australia.
The history of Aquinas begins withChristian Brothers' College, Perth (CBC Perth) which was founded in 1894 onSt Georges Terrace in theCity of Perth. Aquinas opened in 1938, when the headmaster, boarders and some day students from CBC Perth moved to the new campus at Salter Point. While CBC Perth continued to operate as a day school, Aquinas inherited the College colours of red and black, membership of thePublic Schools Association (PSA), as well as the College honour boards, achievements and history for the period 1894–1937.[4][5]
The campus at Aquinas was built on elevated land which is part of the 69-hectare (171-acre) site at Salter Point. The site includes a large area of bushland on the Mount Henry Peninsula with over two kilometres (one point two miles) of water frontage on theCanning River.[6]
Currently, Aquinas College accepts day students from Kindergarten to Year 12 and boarding students from Years 7 to 12. School fees range from $7,353 for a Kindergarten day student to over $53,514 for a boarding student. The campus includes expansive sporting grounds, and boarding facilities for 210 students.[7]
Aquinas is affiliated with the Public Schools Association, the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia,[8] and theIndependent Primary School Heads of Australia.[9]
The Christian Brothers opened CBC Perth on 31 January 1894. CBC Perth was built on the corner ofSt Georges Terrace andVictoria Avenue inPerth. The College was also commonly called CBC Terrace.[c][10] CBC Perth was the first Christian Brothers school as well as the second oldest high school and the second oldest boarding school in Western Australia.
The Brothers were invited to the colony byBishopMatthew Gibney who knew of the work of the Brothers in Ireland, England, and in the eastern colonies of Australia.[11]
At first, CBC Perth[c] was a day school. However, due to the rapid population growth in Western Australia during thegold rush, the Christian Brothers were pressured to allow boarders to live in makeshift conditions at the College.[12] The first boarding students were enrolled in June 1896. Accommodation at the site was very limited and overcrowded. In 1917,Brother Paul Nunan, headmaster of the College, set-about acquiring a larger property away from the city centre in order to reside the whole school on a much larger campus.[10]
At first, the Brothers entered into negotiations for the purchase of 8 hectares (20 acres) atPoint Heathcote on theSwan River. The negotiations fell through and in 1928 the Brothers purchased 95 hectares (234 acres) on the Canning River, just east of theRiverton Bridge, and they named the propertyClune Park.[13] The following year theGreat Depression started and plans to develop this site were shelved.[14]
In 1936, at the instigation ofBrother Paul Keaney, thesuperior of nearbyClontarf Orphanage,62.4 hectares (154 acres) were purchased from the Manning family atMount Henry Peninsula on the Canning River at a cost of £9,925.[15][16]
In April 1937, builders Snooks and Sons successfully tendered to build the College at a cost of £21,350. Earlier that year, the work of clearing the grounds and preparing the site was taken up vigorously with squads of boys from the old college playing a major role.[15][17]
In 1937, CBC Perth began to splinter. Boarders and some day boys started moving to the fast developing Aquinas College campus at Salter Point.[18] In 1937, the PSA committee agreed to transfer PSA membership and records of CBC Perth to Aquinas. Although CBC Perth continued as a day school until 1961, Aquinas inherited the College colours red and black, as well as the College honour boards, achievements and history for the period 1894–1937. The inheritance was largely due to the driving efforts of Brother C.P. Foley who was headmaster of CBC Perth and the founding headmaster of Aquinas. Brother Foley was steadfast Aquinas was not a new Christian Brothers school. The Brothers obeyed and in the ensuring schism the heritage of CBC Perth was removed. CBC Perth was no longer a member of the PSA. The colours of CBC Perth became blue, light blue, and green, and the college raised new honour boards from 1938 onwards. In 1962 CBC Perth moved to the new campus atTrinity College by the Swan River on the East Perth foreshore.[19]
The Aquinas Collegefoundation stone was laid on 11 July 1937, and the school opened in February 1938 with 160 boarders and 55-day pupils.[10] Brother C.P. Foley was the first headmaster.[20] The CatholicArchbishop of Perth,Redmond Prendiville, addressed the headmaster and students on 19 November 1938:"With the proud traditions of St Georges Terrace to sustain it, and with the additional advantages of new quarters and ideal surroundings, I have no doubt that Aquinas College will achieve still greater results in the moral and intellectual training of goodCatholics and goodcitizens".
The Edmund Rice Administration wing was built in 1937. The main wing wasbrick in the late tradition ofFederation Romanesque architecture, similar in style to CBC Perth. In its early years, the College extensively usedwood framed and galvanizediron cladbuildings for bothdormitories andclassrooms in order to cope with the steadily growing number of pupils.[11]
In 1951, the College's premier oval, which is overlooked by the Edmund Rice Administration wing was named Memorial Oval to commemorate Aquinians who lost their lives at war. A scoreboard was constructed on the oval and is named after Brother C.P. Foley the first headmaster of Aquinas.[10]
The first major classroom block, named the Murphy Wing in honour of Brother V.I. Murphy who was headmaster of the College from 1951 to 1956, was built in 1955.[10]
The construction of the McKenna Wing, which was named after Brother V.C. McKenna who was the deputy headmaster of the College from 1963 to 1966, was completed in 1962. This was soon followed by the junior school in 1963, theChapel of St Thomas Aquinas in 1966 and the completion of the main boarding wing in 1967.[21]
In 1975, the swimming pool was constructed. It was one of the first 50-metre swimming pools to be constructed in schools. This was followed by the Redmond Learning Centre (library) in 1975, which was named after Brother M.F. Redmond who was on staff at Aquinas for over 45 years.[12]
In 1980 the College embarked on a further expansion which saw the addition, between 1981 and 1983, of the senior classroom block, the manual arts building, theart centre and finally, thegymnasium.[10]
Because of ever increasing pressure on enrolments in the school and the need to involve married and single lay staff in the care ofboarders, the college built newboardingaccommodation in 1986 and renovated buildings to provide needed classrooms.[10]
In 1987, the Aquinas College board was established with the responsibility for the day-to-day educational needs of the students – this area includes all teaching staff, the headmaster and the head of residential facilities.[22] The major responsibilities of the board include forming policy, planning future developments, and financial management.[23]
At first all teachers at Aquinas were Christian Brothers. The Brothers were gradually replaced bylay-teachers. By 2011, there were only two Christian Brothers actively teaching at the College. The first lay-headmaster of Aquinas, Robert White, was appointed in 2000.[22]
The main entrance of the college was remodelled in 2003, with the cupola from the original Christian Brothers College building on St Georges Terrace as the focal point. The drive has five pillars with dates engraved in them that are significant in the College's history, and a large wall with large brick sections and smaller sections – which symbolise the highs and lows that the College has been through.[24]
In 2004, the Aquinas College Foundation was established, it exists under the auspices of the Christian Brothers, this unit is responsible for acquiring (throughdonations) and providing the funds necessary to operate, maintain and expand the school.[23] The Foundation operates independently from the Board to ensure a sound financial future for the College, however it does work collaboratively with the College to assist in achieving the College's vision.[22]
2006 saw the College embark on further expansion. Churack Pavilion was constructed on the banks of Memorial Oval and the school canteen was relocated to the farside of the Murphy Wing.[25]
At the beginning of 2011, the Brother Paul Centre was opened on the south-east side of the school. The state-of-the-art facility includes specialist classrooms and playing arenas forbadminton,basketball andvolleyball.
In late 2016 work started on a fourth boarding house named Brothers' House which was completed in mid-2017. Gibney, Pinder Boor and Nunan are also being refurbished in stages, with the Nunan due to be finished in mid 2018.[needs update]
The development of a 650-seat recital hall and music centre, a new hockey building, a university centre and new tennis courts was approved in October 2024.[26]
| Ordinal | Headmaster | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Br. C.P. Foley | 1938 | 1938 | 1 year | [27] |
| 2 | Br. William V. Green | 1939 | 1944 | 6 years | [27] |
| 3 | Br. Thomas B. Garvey MBE | 1945 | 1951 | 7 years | |
| 4 | Br. Vincent I. Murphy | 1951 | 1956 | 6 years | [28] |
| 5 | Br. Walter G. Hall | 1957 | 1962 | 6 years | [28] |
| 6 | Br. J.C. (Bill) Woodruff | 1963 | 1968 | 6 years | [29] |
| 7 | Br. Leo B. Hassam | 1969 | 1974 | 6 years | [30] |
| 8 | Br. D.F. Drake | 1974 | 1978 | 5 years | [30] |
| 9 | Br. Terrence X. Hann | 1979 | 1986 | 8 years | [30] |
| 10 | Br. John Carrigg | 1987 | 1993 | 7 years | |
| 11 | Br. Kevin Paull | 1993 | 1999 | 7 years | [31] |
| 12 | Bob White | 2000 | 2007 | 8 years | |
| 13 | Mark Sawle | 2007 | 2016 | 10 years | [32] |
| 14 | David McFadden | 2017 | 2022 | 6 years | |
| 15 | Robert Henderson | 2023 | incumbent | 2 years |
Robert Henderson (Class of 1979) is the first Old Aquinian to lead the College.
Aquinas College is located on a 62.4-hectare (154-acre) property with three kilometres (1.9 mi) of water frontage along the north bank of the Canning River. The land, which falls within the Manning ward of theCity of South Perth, is valued at A$1.2 billion.[33] All of the land belongs to the school which manages and funds the area – including theMount Henry Peninsula.[34][35]
The campus comprises a number of buildings and sporting facilities necessary for the day-to-day educational needs of the students. Two of these buildings are of historical significance, theEdmund Rice Administration Wing and theChapel, which are listed with theHeritage Council of Western Australia.[36]
Mount Henry Peninsula is a land feature and reserve located 11 km (6.8 mi) south of Perth, which is owned by the Christian Brothers as part of the Aquinas property. The region is recognised as aBush Forever site and is listed on theRegister of the National Estate.[37]
The land is managed as areserve with theDepartment of Environment and Conservation,Swan River Trust,National Heritage Trust and theCity of South Perth for heritage conservation, education and passive recreation values. The College works collaboratively with the Swan River Trust and the City of South Perth on projects relating to the Mount Henry Peninsula including the Mount Henry Peninsula management plan.[7][37]
The decision to commemorate the oval to the servicemen of Aquinas by building a war memorial oval at the front of the main building was undertaken in by the Old Aquinians association in 1940. An appeal to fund the war memorial oval raised £5,000, Memorial Oval was subsequently opened on 11 November 1951 as a tribute to the servicemen among the Old Aquinians.[38] Outside of the school's usage the ground is used forfirst-class women's cricket matches between theWestern Fury and other state teams.[39][40]
When Aquinas opened in 1938, it started with 173 boarders; there are currently 216 boarders residing at the College.
All boarders live in one of the four boarding residences on the property.[41]
The boarding houses are:
Junior school houses are:
Middle school (Years 7 to 9) houses are:
Senior school (Years 10 to 12) houses are named after families that have had a significant connection to Aquinas:
In 1905, CBC Perth (Aquinas) was a founding member — along with The Church of England Grammar School (Guildford Grammar School), The High School (Hale School), and The Alexander Scotch College (Scotch College) — of thePublic Schools Association of Western Australia. In the early years of the PSA, rivalry between the four schools was increasingly competitive. The honour of each school was closely linked with performance on the sporting field. Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian sectarianism had a huge cultural impact, and the Christian Brothers and students of CBC Perth perceived themselves as underdogs who had to work hard to build traditions at the school:[42]
... we had no traditions to speak of. They had yet to be made – but the builders were even then stripping to the waist. We were late comers into the arena [Hale School was established in 1858], and were despised, an object of scorn and derision, for we had hardly a scholastic attainment, or a single athletic performance to our credit. The stream of prosperity on which you now float so magnificently was not won without labour and effort. – Jack Savage, 1938[43]
When Aquinas opened in 1938, the Brothers and students who made the move from the city also took the sporting records, achievements, and PSA membership of CBC Perth.[44] In 1962, CBC Perth moved from St Georges Terrace to the riverside ofEast Perth and became Trinity College. When Trinity joined the PSA in 1968 the two schools immediately became arch-rivals with each school claiming the heritage of CBC Perth from 1894–1937. Meanwhile, there were no doubts in the minds of Aquinas students when the crowds at PSA inter-school athletics meetings shouted, "Kill the Micks", they meant Aquinas and not Trinity, given the overwhelming dominance of Aquinas over the rest of the PSA competition.[45]
Aquinas competes in seasonal PSA inter-school sports, as well as one day PSA events which include golf, sailing and surfing. The junior school participates in sailing, softball and squash programs outside the PSA sporting competition.
Aquinas has won the following PSA premierships.[46] Premierships won prior to 1938 were done so by Aquinas' predecessor CBC Perth.
| Sport | Trophy | Number of championships | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | Alcock Shield | 57 | 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1944, 1951, 1952, 1957, 1958, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 |
| Badminton | Br. Kelly Cup | 1 | 2003 |
| Basketball | Blackwood Trophy | 16 | 1985, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2023 |
| Cricket | Darlot Cup | 29 | 1910, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1951, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1997, 2004, 2013, 2015, 2016 |
| Cross country | Moyes Trophy | 19 | 1980, 1981, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 |
| Football | Alcock Cup | 56 | 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2018, 2024 |
| Golf | P.C. Anderson Cup | 2 | 2001, 2003 |
| Hockey | Ray House Cup | 21 | 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2025 |
| Rowing | Challenge Cup (Head of the River) | 37 | 1900, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 |
| Rowing | C.A. Hamer Cup (Champion School) | 15 | 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 |
| Rugby | Br. Redmond Cup | 4 | 1970, 1972, 1973, 2000 |
| Soccer | Lawe Davies Cup | 5 | 1995, 2002, 2009, 2021, 2022 |
| Swimming | Dr. K.G. Tregonning Cup | 15 | 1910, 1911, 1924, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1964, 1993, 1994 |
| Tennis | W.R. Corr Cup | 11 | 1964, 1969, 1970, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2002, 2009 |
| Volleyball | Br. Carrigg Shield | 18 | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2024 |
| Water polo | Dickinson Shield | 15 | 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2024 |
Third Place: 2015Theservice-learning program at Aquinas was implemented in 1997. Social justice has been part of the religious education program since the mid-1980s.[47]
The College's students were the first to participate in theRed Cross soup patrol, the Adult Migrant conversational English program, and the Kindred Family support program. The College won Volunteering WA's difference award in 1998 and 2001 for innovative and outstanding service to the community. In 2002, the College became the first school in Australia to implement a graduate requirement ofcommunity service for senior students.[citation needed]
Aquinas has a strong arts program which has grown over recent years. The majority of these activities take place in the Mary Kerr building, named after a long serving former music teacher. Each year, there is a visual arts exhibition, displaying work from arts students, whilst there are many evenings throughout the year where bands and choirs perform.
The highlight of the Drama calendar at Aquinas is the senior school production. This annual event sees students from year 10 to 12 perform a well known musical. The production runs over 3 to 4 nights, from Wednesday to Saturday.
