Brother Ignatius O'Connor FMS (16 July 1896 – 19 March 1949), was the religious name of Vincent Ignatius O'Connor, an Australian Marist Brother who worked in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. He was the founding

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

of the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

boys' school

Marist College Ashgrove Marist College Ashgrove (abbreviated as MCA) is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding primary school, primary and secondary school, secondary school for Sin ...

in 1940, having previously been headmaster at

Marcellin College Randwick Marcellin College Randwick is an independent systemic Catholic secondary day school for boys, located in Randwick, a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded by the Marist Brothers in 1923, the college is o ...

. Born in Sydney, Vincent Ignatius O'Connor was educated at the Marist Brothers' Juniorate at Hunters Hill, and began his novitiate in 1914. Brother Ignatius was on staff at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill from 1926 to 1931, and obtained degrees in Arts and Economics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. Appointed as director of the Brothers' college at Randwick from 1932 to 1937, he achieved remarkable success in expanding the school through significant building projects during these depression years, attracting support ranging from the local community level to members of parliament and the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Game. After visiting Europe in 1939, Brother Ignatius continued his work in 1940 as the founding director of the Brothers' new college at Ashgrove in Brisbane, on the site of the former St Jude’s Seminary. The clearing of the recreation ground and sports oval and construction of the school's swimming pool was completed under his leadership in the first year. However, the college was only open for two years before the grounds were commandeered by the Australian Army in 1942. The boarding students were evacuated to Eagle Heights on

Tamborine Mountain Tamborine Mountain, also known simply as Mount Tamborine, is a plateau, geographic subregion and locality in the Scenic Rim Region of Queensland, Australia. In the , Tamborine Mountain had a population of 8,105 people. Geography The plate ...

, where several guest houses were rented for accommodation and a building was purchased for the new school. Brother Ignatius suffered a stroke in 1944, which undermined his health and left him bed-ridden for the remainder of his life. He did not return with the senior students in 1945, after the military occupation of the college at Ashgrove had ended, but remained with the Marist community at Eagle Heights until his death, at the age of 52, in 1949. Archbishop

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

presided over the requiem and his burial at Eagle Heights, which was attended by many friends, including the Premier of Queensland, Ned Hanlon. In honour of his work in the founding of the college at Ashgrove, one of the eight houses of the secondary school was named in his memory when the house system began in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Ignatius Marist Brothers 1896 births 1949 deaths Clergy from Sydney