St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
St Joseph's College is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Marist Brothers tradition, located in Hunters Hill, a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Founded by the Marist Brothers in 1881, Joeys currently caters for approximately 1,100 students from Year 7 to Year 12, including over 750 boarders, making it the second largest boarding school in Australia, and one of the largest in the southern hemisphere.
The College is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, the Australian Boarding Schools' Association, the Association of Marist Schools of Australia, and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales.
In 2006, Joeys saw the appointment of its first lay headmaster, Ross Tarlinton, who served from 2006 to 2017. He was succeeded in 2018 by another layman, Christopher Hayes.
History
Foundation
St Joseph's College can trace its origins back to the Marist Brothers' school founded in Harrington Street, Church Hill, which was attached to St Patrick's Catholic Church. The Headmaster, Emilian Pontet then sought out land to found a new school elsewhere. After inspecting several locations, Hunters Hill was chosen due to its proximity to the Marist Fathers' Monastery and Parish of Villa Maria.On 29 July 1881, the Headmaster, Emilian Pontet, transferred the school from Harrington Street to Hunters Hill, founding St Joseph's College in a temporary wooden building with a student population of 55. Within six years of its founding, keen observers had taken notice. In 1887, James Francis Hogan wrote in The Irish in Australia that:
St John's College, affiliated to the University of Sydney; Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, conducted by the Jesuit Fathers; and St. Joseph's College, Hunter Hill, under the management of the Marist Brothers, are three educational institutions that reflect the highest credit on the Catholic population of the parent colony.
Brother Emilian Pontet was the founding headmaster ; he was succeeded by Brother Stanislaus who continued the building program at the main campus and oversaw the acquisition of 16 acres of playing fields close by.
These events took place in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the transition of NSW from a penal colony to a free settlement under the Governorship of Macquarie, the broader context of Victorian Era politics and activity from London such as Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill founded in 1866 by future Cardinal Herbert Alfred Vaughan. 19th Century Bishops such as Polding and Ullathorne were faithful witnesses to much missionary endeavour and Australia ceased being a mission territory simultaneously with Pope Paul VI writing to all the faithful of the entire world in "Evangelii Nuntiandi" on 8 December 1975.
Headmasters
The following individuals have served as Headmaster of St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill:| Ordinal | Officeholder | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
| 1 | Brother Emilian Pontet | 1881 | 1890 | years | |
| 2 | Br Stanislaus Healy | 1890 | 1894 | years | |
| 3 | Br Basil | 1895 | 1897 | years | |
| 4 | Br Tyler Boddington | 1897 | 1897 | years | |
| 5 | Br Denis | 1897 | 1902 | years | |
| 6 | Br Clement | 1902 | 1909 | years | |
| 7 | Br Victor | 1909 | 1912 | years | |
| 8 | Br Borgia | 1913 | 1917 | years | |
| 9 | Br Osmund | 1918 | 1920 | years | |
| 10 | Br George | 1921 | 1923 | years | |
| 11 | Br Brendan | 1924 | 1925 | years | |
| 12 | Br Gerard | 1925 | 1927 | years | |
| 13 | Br Clement | 1928 | 1928 | years | |
| 14 | Br Denis | 1928 | 1932 | years | |
| 15 | Br Placid | 1932 | 1934 | years | |
| 16 | Br Louis | 1935 | 1940 | years | |
| 17 | Br Gerard | 1941 | 1941 | years | |
| 18 | Br Angelus | 1942 | 1947 | years | |
| 19 | Br Louis | 1948 | 1950 | years | |
| 20 | Br Quentin | 1951 | 1954 | years | |
| 21 | Br Othmar Weldon | 1955 | 1961 | years | |
| 22 | Br Elias | 1962 | 1967 | years | |
| 23 | Br Gildas | 1968 | 1970 | years | |
| 24 | Br Alman Dwyer | 1971 | 1976 | years | |
| 25 | Br Geoffrey Joy | 1977 | 1982 | years | |
| 26 | Br Joseph McMahon | 1983 | 1991 | years | |
| 27 | Br Ernest Houston | 1992 | 2000 | years | |
| 28 | Br Paul Hough | 2001 | 2006 | years | |
| 29 | Ross Tarlinton | 2006 | 2017 | years | |
| 30 | Christopher Hayes | 2018 | incumbent | years |
Campus
The College opened in 1881 in a temporary wooden building, however, it has continued to expand its grounds and buildings since then. Some examples are the construction of the main building's southern wing in 1882-1884; the building of the central and northern wing in 1889-1894 and the building of the Chapel in 1938-1940. The south-eastern corner of the College campus is a property which was acquired in 1882 with the assistance of a benefactor named O'Shaugnessy. The property was then known as Joubert's Reserve and the original small stone cottage that stood on the land when it was acquired still remains on the site today. The College's main playing fields are located 300m away from the main campus and were bought in 1893 from Charles Gilbert Heydon a distinguished lawyer and devout Catholic who offered the Brothers for sale at a discount 16 acres he had acquired nine years earlier. Heydon agreed to a generous instalment plan to assist the Brothers to make the purchase and the interest bill was met by the same benefactor O'Shaugnessy who had assisted with the acquisition of Joubert's Reserve eleven years earlier. Charles Gilbert Heydon was the brother of Louis Francis Heydon MLC, for a time the Australiasian President of the St Vincent de Paul Society. Louis passed away on 17 May 1918 at his residence "Kentigern" at Mary Street Hunters Hill with a requiem mass at Villa Maria followed by a burial at the Field of Mars Cemetery. The Society report for the completed 1907 year refers to 10 new conferences in NSW, one being at St Joseph's College Hunters Hill - being the "first collegiate conference in the circumscription".Today the College is situated on a campus overlooking the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, in suburban Hunter's Hill, from the Sydney central business district. The current facilities of the school include:
Accommodation
St Joseph's has several buildings used for accommodation. Five of these are for Years 10, 11 and 12 respectively. The College's main building, which has stood since the 1880s, contains dorms for the junior years, as well as all the College's refectories, the Health Centre, Common Room, the College Chapel and administration offices. The Year 12 Boarding Area was totally refurbished in early 2009, creating modern and comfortable accommodation for senior students.The College operates kitchens and a laundry catering for all students, teachers and brothers.
Academic facilities
The College has a significant number of academic facilities, including a large four-storey building solely containing science laboratories and classrooms, a library and resource centre, a visual arts centre, a music centre, a hall and five computer labs, each with 20 plus computers. Stage one of a major refurbishment of the resource centre was completed early in 2009, creating a modern, up-to-date teaching and learning facility that provides students with high quality resources and technology for today's fast paced digital world. In 2013, St. Joseph's opened a new Technology and Arts Precinct, including numerous art studios, workshops and classrooms.Sporting facilities
Similar to other GPS schools, St Joseph's has significant sporting facilities for use in both training and competition. The College owns and maintains approximately 10 playing fields for cricket, rugby and soccer. Its main rugby field is in a facility known as "the Park" and located two blocks from the school campus and is often used by higher level teams for training purposes.On the main school campus there are ten tennis courts, five basketball courts, a number of cricket nets, a swimming pool, two gymnasiums and a cardio room. The boatshed and pontoons for the school's rowing club are situated some from the main campus on nearby Tarban Creek, a northern tributary of Sydney's Parramatta River.
Outdoor education facilities
In 1986 St Joseph's opened "Colo", an outdoor education centre for students. It provides education in various outdoor activities, culminating in extended expeditions in Year 9.Organisation
Marist Brothers
An ageing population of Marist brothers have their own accommodation on the school grounds and work to maintain its status, holding a number of executive positions at the College. In 2006, Ross Tarlinton became the first lay headmaster of the College, followed by Dr Chris Hayes in 2017.In 2019 the College farewelled the last teaching Marist Brother, Br Anthony Boyd, who after 40 years of service at the College, retired from his duties at the College.
Sexual abuse allegations
In June, July and August 2014 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by the Australian Government and supported by all of its state governments, began an investigation into the response of Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse in schools in the ACT, NSW and Queensland. Five former students, one former teacher, a former assistant principal and two former principals, former and current Marist officials and clergy, and one of the clergy at the centre of the allegations gave evidence or made statements before the Royal Commission that the alleged cases of abuse happened during the 1970s and 1980s at Daramalan College, Canberra, at, and in Far North Queensland.In March 2015 a former Marist brother was arrested over a number of sex offences allegedly committed at St Joseph's College and St Gregory's College in Campbelltown in the 1980s.
Boarding
With a boarding population of approximately 500, SJC is the largest boarding school for boys in Australia. Joeys offers full boarding as well as weekly boarding options. In recent times the College has also offered day-schooling, and students who do not board are known as 'day-boys'.The College has a long history of boarders from regional and rural Australia, with generations of families hailing from Dubbo, Mudgee, Bourke, Griffith and beyond. In 2016, the College launched the 'Boys from the Bush' program, providing means-tested bursaries to families from country areas. As of January 2019, 33 boys from across Australia were benefitting from the program.
A number of dormitories and refectories are located on the College grounds for boarders and day-boys alike. Dorms and refs are segregated by year, and students tend to receive larger, more private and more privileged accommodation as they advance through the years.
Curriculum
As a secondary school in New South Wales, the College teaches Year 7 to 12 students in accordance with the State Government's education curriculum, as determined by the Board of Studies. At the end of Year 12, successful students are accredited with their Higher School Certificate.Co-curriculum
St Joseph's College offers a variety of co-curricular activities, including Senior Orchestra, Chess and Debating. Joeys is also has the reputation of being a very strong sporting school.Sport
St Joseph's official sporting calendar revolves around competition with the eight other GPS Schools. However, it regularly competes against The Associated Schools during the lead-up to each season, and as a member of the GPS at the end of each season., a short walk from the College
GPS sports include athletics, Australian rules football, basketball, cricket, cross country, football, tennis, rowing, rugby union, swimming, and water polo.