St John's College, Woodlawn is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 the rural area of "Woodlawn" on the outskirts of Lismore, in the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most northeasterly Regions of New South Wales, region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence Ri ...

region of

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. The school, commonly abbreviated to Woodlawn, is administered by the Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Lismore. In the city of Lismore the four largest industries by employment are the retail sector, health care, education and agriculture. St John's College, originally an agricultural secondary school, has a major part in two of these sectors and of course participates indirectly in the others as well. The school's name is often shortened to "Woodlawn" rather than being named fully. The school was founded by the

Marists The Society of Mary (), better known as the Marists, is a Catholic religious congregation of pontifical right. Founded in Cerdon, France, by Jean-Claude Colin, the Society of Mary was recognized by an apostolic brief on April 29, 1836, and is ...

who continue to play a role in the running of the school. The first lay Rector (Principal) was Glenn Roff, appointed in 2001 when the Marist Fathers withdrew from St John's.

History

St John's College, Woodlawn, was founded from St. Patrick's College, Wellington, New Zealand in 1931. The Marists who began the school themselves originated in

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in the early 19th century. St John's College was formally opened in 1931 as a Boarding and Day school on land which was donated by Margaret Buckley. The first rector of the school was Thomas Segrief S.M, Followed by Frs James Bell, John Kennedy, John Webber, Steven Maloney, Sid Mitchell, John Webber, Garry Reynolds, Lou Molloy, John Worthington, William Ryder, Ray Chapman – all priests of the Society of Mary and the current principal is Aaron Beach. The college was described in the ''Northern Star'' on 25 May 1931: For many years, St John was primarily a boarding school for boys. While most students came from country NSW, during the 1960s and 1970s, a substantial number of students came from

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. St John's Woodlawn College has a shameful history when it comes to child abuse. There have been allegations of abuse against several former teachers, and at least two have been criminally convicted for sexually abusing students at the Catholic boarding school. The two most notorious offenders were James (Jim) Doran and Richard O’Connor, who were both found guilty of over 40 charges of sexually abusing students at Woodlawn. Their victims were all teenage boys, as the College did not become co-ed until 1998. James Doran Doran was a boarding master and English teacher at Woodlawn in the 1980s. In 2017, he was found guilty of 41 charges relating to sexual offences committed against former Woodlawn students during his time at the College. The charges included engaging in intercourse without consent and soliciting persons to commit indecent acts. Despite his refusal to plead guilty, he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in jail. Richard O’Connor During the 1980s, Richard O’Connor was the discipline master at Woodlawn and also taught both art and English. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to 40 charges relating to sexual offences committed during his time at Woodlawn, including charges of rape and the sexual assault of students.

The 75th anniversary

St John's College Woodlawn celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2006. The college held many events throughout the year to celebrate, ranging from the first "Woodlawn Race Day", to "St John's Youth Day" and formal ceremonies. The opening of the renovated chapel was a central part of the ceremonies, with hundreds of alumni returning to be a part of the celebrations. After the Woodlawn Race Day (also known as the Woodlawn Cup), the college executive in association with the Parents and Friends executive decided to hold the day annually.

Houses

*Carroll: Green – Bishop of Lismore Diocese at the time of Woodlawn's establishment *Segrief: Red – First rector of the college *Bell: Yellow – Second rector *Kennedy: Blue – Third rector

Significant days at Woodlawn

Opening Mass

The Opening Mass is the religious event marking the start of the new year. In recent years the Opening Mass has been held at the Lismore Cathedral to allow the entire school to attend and to include the Diocese in the events of the college. The Opening Mass also celebrates the new leaders in the College, the Prefects receive their badges of office, and the newly appointed students' representative council is inducted for the year.

College Swimming Carnival

It is regarded (by staff) as being the most exciting, engaged and fun night of the college. The four house colours are split, with the previous years' swimming carnival champions, usually Segrief, sitting opposite the other 3 houses and exchanging banter over the pool.

College Cross Country

The course varies between 3 and 5 Kilometres depending on year level and gender and also the time to beat varies, ranging from 30 to 40 minutes to earn extra points. The Cross Country is run over the rolling hills nearby and is easy to walk yet very challenging to run.

St John's Day

St John's day is the event where Year 12 takes control and has some fun with half the day dedicated to fun activities designed by Year 12s for the rest of the college to enjoy. The profits made from the events go back through the school in the fashion of the Year 12 gift at the end of their years.

Notable alumni

James Aubusson James Aubusson (born 14 December 1986 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Sydney Roosters and the Melbourne Storm in the Australian National R ...

, NRL Sydney Roosters *

Darrel Chapman Darrel Barrie Chapman (September 11, 1937 - October 9, 1992) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. Playing career Originally from Kempsey, New South Wales, Chapman attended St John's College, Woodlawn, o ...

, Australian rugby league player *

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

and Tom Cooper, cricketing brothers * Ian Donnelly, NRL Melbourne Storm * Jarred Ellis, AFL Gold Coast Suns * Matt King, NRL Melbourne Storm *

Aden Ridgeway Aden Derek Ridgeway (born 18 September 1962) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1999 to 2005, representing the Australian Democrats. During his term he was the only Aboriginal m ...

, Australian politician *

Amos Roberts Amos Roberts (born 2 November 1980) is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A Country New South Wales representative prolific try-scoring back, he played in Australia's National Rugby League for the St. George ...

, NRL Sydney Roosters * Albert Torrens, NRL Manly Sea Eagles * Steven Hage, NRL Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs * Michael Gahan, ABL Adelaide Giants & Australian National Team * Nick Meaney, NRL Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm

References

External links

St John's College Woodlawn Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's College, Woodlawn Educational institutions established in 1931 Catholic secondary schools in New South Wales Lismore, New South Wales Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore Association of Marist Schools of Australia 1931 establishments in Australia