St Virgil's College is an independent Catholic primary and secondary day school for boys, located over two

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

es in

Austins Ferry Austins Ferry is a residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Glenorchy in the Hobart LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about north of the town of Glenorchy. The 2021 census recorded a population of 2,395 for Austins Fe ...

and

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, Tasmania,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Established in 1911 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the College has a non-selective enrolment policy and caters for approximately 680 students, from Years 3 to 10, with 120 at the junior campus and 480 at the senior campus. St Virgil's is affiliated with the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), and is a member of the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS). Oversight of the school is administered by the Archdiocese of Hobart, Tasmanian Catholic Education Office, and the school is a member of

Edmund Rice Education Australia Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) is the organisation established by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in Australia to own, govern, manage and conduct education ministries in the Catholic tradition and in the charism of Blessed Edmund I ...

History

St Virgil's College was formally opened on 22 January 1911 by The Christian Brothers. Leo Doyle was the first student admitted to the college. At is foundation the college was a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for boys located in Barrack Street, Hobart. The boarding section of the college was closed in 1970 and since then St Virgil's College has been a day school only. In 1962, another campus was opened in

, offering junior secondary grades (Grades 7–9) on a riverside property of 30 hectares. In 1991, three Grade 10 streams were also added. 2012 marks the 50 year celebrations for the campus. The Barrack Street campus then expanded for students from Grades 7–12 until 1994 when, under the Southern Secondary Schools Restructuring Plan, the campus no longer accepted enrolments for Grade 7. At the end of 1994, Grades 8, 11 and 12 ceased to run at the Barrack Street campus, and all secondary grades were moved to the Austins Ferry campus. This allowed

Guilford Young College Guilford Young College is a Roman Catholic senior secondary college, with campuses located in the Hobart suburbs of Glenorchy and Hobart City in Tasmania, Australia. The College provides education to students in Year 11 and Year 12, offering ...

(Grades 11 and 12) to be established on the Barrack Street site. Grades 9 and 10 still ran in 1995, and only Grade 10 was offered in 1996. After 1996, St Virgil's College ceased to operate any of its classes on the Barrack Street campus. From then on, Grades 7–10 were all taught at the Austins Ferry campus, and because of the discontinuation of Grades 11–12, many students moved on to the newly formed Guilford Young College for their pre-tertiary years. In August 1995, permission was granted for St Peter's School to become the St Virgil's College Junior School from 1996 onwards. The Junior School now accommodates boys from Grades 3–6 and operates on the old St Peter's School site in Patrick Street. The current Principal of St Virgil's College is John Franzin, who was appointed in 2022. Damian Messer left the college in 2021 to carry out other goals and explore different paths. In 2009, Christopher D. Smith left the college to carry out higher duties. Franzin is now the full-time principal, with Daniel Lapolla as the Vice-Principal teacher of the college, who replaced Heidi Senior in 2021. In 2019, it was announced that St Virgil's College would expand from a Year 3-10 school to a kinder to Year 12 school. Works are currently underway to develop both the Hobart and Austins Ferry sites in order for the school to cater for the new students by 2023.

Curriculum

St Virgil's College offers a broad curriculum, with the areas of literacy and

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and to apply simple numerical concepts. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world and being able to apply it to make the bes ...

of high importance. Emphasis is also placed on the languages, science, social sciences and physical education. The College places the most emphasis on its teaching of

religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to te ...

, which is central to every student's studies.

Co-curriculum

Sport

St Virgil's College is a member of the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS). Much importance is placed on sport at St Virgil's College. All students are encouraged to participate in at least one sport during their time at the college. The college has had much success on the sporting field throughout its history. Most recent is the college's domination of the Tasmanian State and Southern School's Athletics. The college's athletics team have won the SATIS (Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools) Boy's junior title 10 years in a row, and the Southern SATIS title 10 years in a row as well. Other sports on offer at St Virgil's include

canoe polo Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo, is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. The sport is also known simply as "polo" by its players and supporters. Each team has five players on the pitch (and up to three substitutes), who compete ...

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, hockey, rowing,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, swimming, tennis, touch football, water polo, basketball, rugby, badminton, squash, sailing, and athletics.

Music

The college has two teacher-coordinated stage bands accommodating players of different skill levels. St Virgil's also offers individual and small group instrumental tuition for those wishing to acquire the skills to excel further than a band setting can allow them. The college also has the facilities to accommodate students wishing to start their own

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

. The St Virgil's College Senior Stage Band has won numerous awards for its efforts at various eisteddfods around Hobart. The Senior Band specialises in the areas of contemporary

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, jazz,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and Latin music. The band often performs at school

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

s, school productions and masses. In late 2005, the Senior Band, along with the jazz quartet, toured Melbourne, performing at various schools and other venues. It is currently organizing and arranging plans to go on a similar tour of Melbourne in 2007. The Senior Stage band has also taken part in many St Virgil's school musicals. The band currently has between 10 and 15 members, and mainly features the trumpet, trombone and saxophone (

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

, tenor and

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

), with a rhythm backing (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, guitar and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Other co-curricular clubs

St Virgil's College also offers a wide range of co-curricular activities outside of sport and music. Most notably a robotics club who participated in the FIRST Lego League and the FIRST Tech Challenge in 2020. St Virgil's College also offers a chess club. This was founded in 2018 and made the Australian national championships in 2020.

House system

As with most Australian schools, St Virgil's utilises a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

. The school houses are: *Doyle — Blue *Dwyer — Green *

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

(formerly Virgilian House) — Red *Joyce (formerly College House) — Yellow

Notable alumni

An alumnus of St Virgil's College is known as an 'Old Virgilian' and may elect to join the school's

alumni association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students (alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools (especially independent schools), ...

, the Old Virgilians' Association. The Association was established in 1916 as a way for Old Virgilians to meet regularly and keep in touch with news about the college. Some notable Old Virgilians include: ;Entertainment, media and the arts *

Anthony Ackroyd Anthony Michael Ackroyd (born 30 June) is an Australian comedian, writer, musician, actor, speaker, and teacher. He is currently the CEO (Chief Enjoyment Officer) of his company The Laughter Advantage. Biography Ackroyd was born in Hobart, Tasma ...

– comedian and writer * Geoff "Jeff" Hook – Tom Lewis – author, military historian and naval officer * Toby Leonard Moore">Tom_Lewis_(author).html" ;"title="artoonist * Tom Lewis (author)">Tom Lewis – author, military historian and naval officer * Toby Leonard Moore – actor * Don Sharp – film director * Peter Damian Williams – author and military historian ;Military * Major General Michael Crane (general), Michael Crane – Commander of all Australian Forces in the Middle East area of operations ( Iraq) ;Politics, public service and the law *

Henry Cosgrove Henry Cosgrove (December 19, 1834 – December 23, 1906) was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the second bishop of Diocese of Davenport in Iowa from 1884 to until his deat ...

– Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania * William Cox – Governor of Tasmania * Anthony Fletcher – former member of the Legislative Council *

Peter Heerey Peter Cadden Heerey (16 February 1939 – 1 May 2021) was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1990 to 2009. Heerey attended St Virgil's College and the University of Tasmania, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law ...

– Justice of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

Pierre Hutton Pierre Norman Bruce Hutton (16 July 192820 July 2014) was an Australian diplomat. Personal life Born on 16 July 1928 in Tasmania, Hutton was educated at St Virgil's College and the University of Tasmania. Graduating with a Bachelor of Commer ...

– diplomat *

Gintaras Kantvilas Gintaras Kantvilas (born 1956) is an Australian lichenologist, who earned his Ph.D in 1985 from the University of Tasmania with a thesis entitled ''Studies on Tasmanian rainforest lichens''. He has authored over 432 species names, and 167 gener ...

– scientist ( lichenologist) & state public servant * Paul Lennon – 42nd Premier of Tasmania * Doug Lowe – 35th Premier of Tasmania * Kenneth Lowrie – former member of the Legislative Council and Glenorchy Alderman *

Albert Ogilvie Albert George Ogilvie (10 March 1890 – 10 June 1939) was an Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania from 22 June 1934 until his death on 10 June 1939. Ogilvie was the elder son of James Ogilvie. He was educated at St Patrick's Co ...

– 28th Premier of Tasmania ;Religion *

Adrian Leo Doyle Adrian Leo Doyle AM (born 16 November 1936) is an Australian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the tenth Archbishop of Hobart. Early life and education Adrian Doyle was born in Hobart, Tasmania, to Leo and Gertrude (née O'Donnel ...

– Archbishop of Hobart * Michael Tate – Catholic priest and former Federal Justice Minister ;Sport *

Scott Bowden Scott Bowden (born 4 April 1995) is an Australian mountain biking and road cyclist, who currently rides for French amateur team Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme. He rode in the road race and the cross-country at the 2016 Summer Olympics, represe ...

– Olympic mountain bike rider and road cyclist * Scott Brennan – Australian rowing Olympic gold medallist and world champion * Sean Clingeleffer – cricket player; Tasmanian wicketkeeper *

Sam Darley Sam Darley (born 15 February 1993) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL He was one of the 's. Darley made his debut ...

– Australian rules footballer *

Michael Di Venuto Michael James Di Venuto (born 12 December 1973) is an Australian cricket coach and former first-class cricketer who represented both Australia (in One Day Internationals) and Italy. The bulk of his first-class cricket career was spent playing ...

– cricket player for the Tasmanian Tigers and Derbyshire County *

Brodie Holland Brodie Holland (born 3 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and model best known for his playing days at the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Brodie Holland is also known for his med ...

– Australian rules footballer for Collingwood Magpies *

Simon Hollingsworth Simon Hollingsworth (born 9 May 1972) is a former track and field athlete who was the CEO of the Australian Sports Commission from 2012 to 2016. Athletic career Hollingsworth competed nationally and internationally for Australia in the 400 m ...

–

400 metre hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

2X lympian and 3X Commonwealth Games representative; Rhodes Scholar * Caleb Jewell – cricket player for North Hobart, Tasmanian Tigers and Hobart Hurricanes * Oliver O'Halloran – youngest person to fly around world solo, unassisted, completed in 2017 * Jack Riewoldt – Australian rules footballer for Richmond Tigers *

Sid Taberlay Sid Taberlay is a professional mountain biker from Australia. After training in 2000, he finished third in the U23 National Championships and was selected for the National Team for the U23 World Championships in Spain. Taberley finished in t ...

– Olympic mountain bike rider *

Ted Terry Edward Richard Terry (4 June 1904 – 5 March 1967) was an outstanding all-round Tasmanian schoolboy athlete. He was an accomplished professional sprinter, and he also played Australian rules football in Tasmania before moving to the mainlan ...

— outstanding schoolboy athlete, winner of the 1925

Burnie Gift The Burnie Gift is a professional footrace held in Burnie, Tasmania during an annual sports carnival, held on a grass track at West Park Oval West Park Oval is an Australian Rules football, cycling and athletics venue located on the shores of ...

, and – Australian rules footballer for St Kilda Saints *

Tristan Thomas Tristan Thomas (born 23 May 1986 in Brisbane) is an Australian track and field athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles.Peter Toogood Peter Alfred Toogood, (11 April 1930 – 5 June 2019) was an Australian amateur golfer from Tasmania. He won the Australian Amateur in 1954 and the Tasmanian Open eight times. He was the leading amateur in the 1954 Open Championship and was par ...

– former Australian amateur golf champion

References

External links

St Virgil's College Website

Catholic Education Tasmania

Department of Education Tasmania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Virgil's College Catholic primary schools in Hobart Catholic secondary schools in Hobart Educational institutions established in 1911 Congregation of Christian Brothers secondary schools in Australia Boys' schools in Tasmania Junior School Heads Association of Australia Member Schools 1911 establishments in Australia Congregation of Christian Brothers primary schools in Australia