Timeline
1847 Sisters of Mercy start the first school on Henry St
1849 Bishop Brady closes the school
1855 Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition take over the school
1863 SoSJ move to Parry St (current site)
1894 The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate take responsibility for St Patrick’s Basilica and parish.
1968 SoSJ hand over the school to St Patrick’s Parish
197? Ursuline Convent
Catholic education started in Fremantle with The Mercy Sisters who arrived at Fremantle in 1846, led by pioneer Mother Ursula Frayne. The Sisters opened their first convent and St Francis Xavier School on Henry Street, Fremantle. It was short lived. In 1949 Bishop Brady requested for the school to close.
In 1854, Bishop Serra travelled to Ireland seeking missionaries to come to Australia and serve the church. In January 1855 four young sisters began the arduous and dangerous voyage on the “Amherst” arriving in the Swan River Colony almost five months later on 24th May. Sisters, Julie Cabagniol (25), Lucie Fieuzet (44), Zoe de Chamouin (19) & Emilie Petit (19) resided in the top storey of the old Convent in Henry Street, the lower storey of which served as a Church.
By 1st July, just 5 weeks after arriving, they had opened a school for girls of wealthier families while taking on the management of a free school for poorer children. Over many years this remained the pattern, receiving primary pupils of all denominations whose education was made possible by means of the fees paid by the wealthy families who wished to have their daughters well educated.
By 1858, the Sisters were able to rent other cramped quarters on the corner of High and Queen Streets. Also 1858 the main portion of the St Joseph’s Convent was built in Adelaide Street and soon afterwards part of the Primary School in Parry Street was erected.
By 1858, the Sisters were renting cramped accommodation on the corner of High and Queen Streets while planning a permanent home. As enrolments continued to grow, and despite significant financial hardship, St Joseph’s Convent and College was opened in 1863 beside the original St Patrick’s Church on Adelaide Street and soon afterwards part of the Primary School in Parry Street was erected.
Over the next century, the school evolved to meet the changing needs of Fremantle, serving at various times as a school for young ladies, a school for poorer Catholic children, a boarding college for girls, a co-educational primary school and, ultimately, a secondary college for girls.
In 1966 the St Joseph’s Convent site was sold to the GJ Coles Company and the High School was re-established at De Vialar College in Samson. The Parry Street School was phased out over a couple of years as more space became available in the building, which was once part of the St Joseph’s High School, but which from 1967 became known as St Patrick’s. The Parry Street School was remodelled to become the present St Patrick’s Parish Centre.
In 1974 Mrs Gladys Parry became the first lay principal and the final extensions to the School were completed in November 1975.
Maristella Kindergarten in Hampton Road, founded by the Italian Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1963, became incorporated into St Patrick’s in 1980. Maristella encompassed the three-year-old Pre Kindergarten, a four-year-old Kindergarten class and the Pre Primary class.
In 2014 a building program at St Patrick’s was initiated to make way for the early childhood students to be housed with the rest of the school, at 8 Ellen Street. A double story building with classrooms for the Upper Years on the top floor and multipurpose area on the bottom floor, used for assemblies and before and afters school care.