O'Connor Catholic College, formerly O'Connor Catholic High School, is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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 ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

, located in

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It was created by an amalgamation of St Ursula's College and De La Salle College. Administered by the Diocese of Armidale, O’Connor College occupies the site of the former De La Salle College and has, as its motto, a quote from St Paul's Letter to the Galatians, "The Fruit of the Spirit is Love".

History

The college was formed in 1975 with the amalgamation of two of Armidale's longest-established schools – St Ursula's College (established in 1882 by Sister Mary Cordula) and De La Salle College (established in 1906). The college takes its name from Patrick O'Connor, Bishop of Armidale from 1904–1930 who contributed greatly to Catholic education in the Diocese during that time.

Controversy

In 2024, a counsellor at the school during the 1970s and 1980s, Allan Keith Huggins, was given a custodial sentence of 28 years for sexual abuse offences against teenage and pre-teenage boys.

Notable alumni

* Lyall Munro Jnr, from the Aboriginal mission at Moree, attended De la Salle College in 1966 when, at the age of 14, he attained his instructor's badge in

lifesaving Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical servic ...

References

Educational institutions established in 1975 Catholic secondary schools in New South Wales Schools in Armidale 1975 establishments in Australia Lasallian schools in Australia {{NewSouthWales-school-stub

History

Controversy

Notable alumni

See also

References