Convent of Mercy & Ursula Frayne Catholic College

Statement of Significance

The Mercy Convent and Ursula Frayne College has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • It has a long association with the Catholic community of the Victoria Park district since its inception in 1899; • The buildings have a commanding presence along Shepperton Road and display many architectural features and a visual balance valued by the community; • Many children have been educated at the school since it first opened in 1899 and it continues to provide a co-education to a broad range of students beyond the immediate Victoria Park district; and • The school and former convent form an important part of a major heritage precinct which includes St Joachim's Hall, Church, Presbytery and the school campus.

Physical Description

The Mercy Convent and Ursula Frayne College form part of a larger Parish and School complex. The site is bounded by Teague Street to the north, Duncan Street to the east, Shepperton Road to the south and St Joachim’s Catholic Church and Hall to the west. The College includes a combination of single to three storey buildings of varying eras and architectural styles. The cohesive style is achieved through the use of face brick and render as well as tiled roofs. The original two storey building located to the southern boundary of the site has face brick walls with rendered banding painted a white/ream colour. The hip and gable roofs are terracotta tile with face brick and rendered moulded chimneys. There is a masonry balustrade visible to Shepperton Road that is painted white/cream to match the buildings rendered features. Further east is an addition to this building that extends along Shepperton Road to Duncan Street. The building is face brick with a terracotta tile roof. The complements the original building with rendered banding, window heads, arches and an entry gable. A Celtic cross sits atop the gable. There is a later addition to the corner of Duncan Street and Teague Street. The face brick and terracotta tile roof building addresses this street intersection with a contemporary abstract form located to its rear.

History

St Joachim’s Church was first established in 1899 and, over time, became used as a school. The Church was used as a classroom for nearly 70 years until its demolition in the 1960s. The first Principal of the school was Mother Clare Buggy, from Derry in Northern Ireland. Buggy set up the school and a convent in temporary dwellings, until a modest convent was built. In 1925, owning to a lack of space, planning and fundraising began for a new convent. Architect, E. Le B Henderson and Building, E T (Ted) Russell aimed at a, ‘spacious and commodious’ convent, which was opened in 1926. The convent was vacated in the 1980s. The school’s first enrolment of the school was 35 pupils and grew to involve many local children, including Aboriginal pupils. One of the predominant features of St Joachim’s was its multicultural population. This trend became particularly noticeable with post WWII migration. By the 1970s the diversity of the population was represented in a student number between 150 and 200 children who came from migrant homes. In the 1970s there was also an increasing employment of lay-staff. Ursula Frayne College was formed in 1990 by the amalgamation of Xavier College in East Victoria Park (itself a 1981 combination of St Francis Xavier and Our Lady Help of Christians Primary Schools), St Joachim’s Primary School (co-educational) and St Joachim’s High School (girls only). The amalgamation was at first controversial but settled in 1998 with a co-educational school population of over 650 in years 7-12 and 550 in years K-6. A series of new building programmes has seen the campus considerably enhanced and upgraded between 1995 and 2000. All new buildings are sympathetic to the architectural style of the original convent. The old convent is part of the administration building of the college. Much of this information was supplied by Sister Margaret Lipsett who started school at St Joachim’s in 1949 as a child of 5 years. In 1998 Sister Margaret was in her 7th year as a Pastoral Care worker for Ursula Frayne College Community. Ursula Frayne was Mother Superior of the Mercy Mission which began in Western Australia in 1846. Ursula Frayne opened the first secondary school in Western Australia. After much hardship setting up the Mission in the colony with very few Catholic people, the Sisters of Mercy flourished. In 1856 Mother Ursula Frayne responded to a call to set up a Victorian Foundation. Mother Ursula stayed in Victoria founding schools and orphanages until her death in 1885.

Integrity/Authenticity

INTEGRITY: High AUTHENTICITY: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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