St Joseph's College (abbreviated as SJC and commonly called ''Joeys'') 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 ...

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secondary

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and boarding school for boys, conducted in the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

tradition, located in

Hunters Hill Hunters Hill is a suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government in Australia, local ...

, a suburb on the Lower North Shore of

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 ...

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. Founded by the Marist Brothers in 1881, Joeys currently caters for approximately 1,100 students from

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 ...

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth or thirteenth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-comp ...

, including over 550 boarders, making it the largest all boys 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 (AHISA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), the Association of Marist Schools of Australia (AMSA), and is a founding member of the

Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales The Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS) is a sporting association of boys' schools in New South Wales, Australia that contest Sport, sporting events among themselves. The AAGPS was formed on 30 March 1892, ...

(AAGPS). 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 and now Michael Blake.

History

Foundation

St Joseph's College (SJC) 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 A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

and Parish of Villa Maria. On 29 July 1881, the Headmaster, Emilian Pontet, moved the schools location 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 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 ...
; Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, conducted by the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
Fathers; and St. Joseph's College, Hunter Hill , under the management of , are three educational institutions that reflect the highest credit on the Catholic population of the parent colony.Hogan, James Francis,
The Irish in Australia
', 1887. Reproduced by
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
(retrieved 15 June 2006).

Brother Emilian Pontet was the founding headmaster (1881–1890); he was succeeded by Brother Stanislaus (1890–1894) who continued the building program at the main campus and oversaw the acquisition of 16 acres of playing fields close by.

Headmasters

The following individuals have served as Headmaster of St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill:

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 A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

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 ("the Park") 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 Australasian President of the St Vincent de Paul Society. Louis died 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 A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

overlooking the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, in

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Hunter's Hill, from the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

. 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 (dining rooms), the Health Centre, the College Chapel and

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

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 Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...

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 Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

laboratories and classrooms (which have recently been refurbished), a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and resource centre, a

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

centre, a

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

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 football. The main playing fields are housed 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. The Park complex also contains 8 tennis courts. It is considered the best school in the GPS currently as it has the most wins. On the main school campus there are five

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor ...

s, three playing fields (referred to as the 'back ovals'), a number of cricket nets, a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

, two

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

nasiums (for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

respectively) 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 A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of Sydney's Parramatta River.

Outdoor education facilities

In 1986, St Joseph's opened "Colo", an

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, such as during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or quest, journey wilderness-based experiences which engage participants in a v ...

centre for students. It provides education in various outdoor activities, culminating in extended expeditions in Year 9. The director is Paul Bryant.

Traditions

The student body of Joeys has many traditions and urban myths. One such tradition is the "Punch Tile", mainly in Year 7. The punch tile is a misplaced tan tile on the 2nd floor in the main building. Rules around it are loose, but the premise is that if you step on it, you get punched. Another well defined tradition is "Monday night schnitty", which is quite self-explanatory. The meal is almost always a pub-style Chicken Schnitzel, followed by Jelly, and Milo and cookies for supper. The Monday night schnitty is a staple among Joe-boys. nic Another tradition is the large posters placed around the main buildings before major games and competitions, a good example is before the AAGPS Head of The River and the finals for rugby. These posters are usually inspirational and have movie references, Joeys in-jokes about popular teachers or Marist brothers.

Organisation

Marist Brothers

An ageing population of

Marist brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

have their own accommodation on the school grounds (some in the retired brothers quarters) 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 (1969), who after 40 years of service at the College (23 as Deputy Headmaster), 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 The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and repo ...

, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

and supported by all of its

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, at , and in

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

. In March 2015 a former Marist brother, Francis William Cable, known as Brother Romuald 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. In 2021, a Marist Brother John Patrick O'Brien who worked at the school in the 1970's was convicted of a number of child sexual abuses which occurred at the school. On 5 November 2021, O’Brien was given a head sentence of 7 years 9 months, 5 years non parole and is available for parole on 14 April 2026.

Boarding

With a boarding population of approximately 900, SJC is the largest boarding school for boys in Australia. Joeys offers full boarding as well as weekly boarding options (where students go home on weekends). In recent times, the College has also offered day-schooling, and students who do not board are known as 'day-boys'. Day students and Boarders are not segregated and have smaller cabinets ('presses') and are usually in the same area as boarders. A number of dormitories ('dorms') and refectories ('refs') 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(i.e. students move from large dormitories to single rooms, and from the College's original accommodation facilities to newly built accommodation). Year 7, 8 and 9 dormitories are situated on the 4th and 3rd floors in the main building, with year 7 and 8 having one half of the top floor each, and due to the large influx of boarders in year 9, they take up the entirety of the third floor. St Josephs college dorm

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 (HSC).

Co-curriculum

St Joseph's College offers a variety of co-curricular activities, including Senior

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

and Debating. Joeys 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 (CAS) during the lead-up to each season, and as a member of the GPS (in GPS v CAS matches) at the end of each season. Tarban Creek Bridge

GPS sports include athletics,

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, cross country,

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, rowing,

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Rugby union

St. Joseph's has a very proud, strong tradition in rugby union, being widely renowned as one of Australia's great rugby nurseries. Over the years, the college has produced many well known players who have represented at grade, state and national levels, including three Wallaby Captains. St. Joseph's proud history is displayed through their many 1st and 2nd XV premierships in the AAGPS competitions. Their most recent 1st XV success was in 2019, where the college won their 56th 1st XV premiership while the 2nd XV and 3rd XV were also undefeated to win their premierships.

Football

St Joseph's has a storied history in AAGPS Football, winning premierships in both the 1st & 2nd XI in the inaugural competition in 1988. The College has won four 1st XI premierships (1988, 1997, 2012, 2022, 2023) and three 2nd XI premierships (1988, 1998, 2012). The 'Lower Park' complex was refurbished in 2019 with a new grandstand and dugouts, and hosts one of the premier natural turf Football pitches in Sydney. SJC Lower Park

Cricket

Cricket has always been one of the premier summer sports at St. Joseph's. The college has always been strong in cricket, dating back to the inaugural AAGPS season, in which St. Joseph's shared the premiership along with Sydney Grammar School and Newington College. Stan McCabe remains the college's most well known cricketer. In recent years, St Joseph's has been consistently one of the best high school cricketing teams, winning both the AAGPS Premiership and Marist Cricket Carnival on multiple occasions.

Rowing

St. Joseph's was the fourth Sydney school to take to the water (after Grammar, Riverview and Shore) and has been rowing in the GPS competition since 1907. Joeys had their inaugural GPS victory in 1911, then again in 1916. The College's 1st VIII victory in the 2015 race ended a drought dating back to 1973 at the AAGPS Head of the River. Joeys again won in 2024 with a great victory in the AAGPS Head of the river.

Basketball

St Joseph's has won the 1st GPS Basketball Competition 5 Times since it began in 1976 including the 1981, 1984, 1989, 1991 & 1993 seasons. St Joseph's has won the 2nd GPS Basketball Competition 15 Times including the 1976, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2014 seasons.

Notable alumni: 'Old Boys'

Alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

of St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill are commonly referred to as Old Boys, and may elect to join the schools

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, school A school is the educati ...

, the St Joseph's College Old Boys' Union (SJCOBU).

References

Bibliography

* Naughtin, M. 1981. ''A Century of Striving: St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, 1881-1981''. Macarthur Press, Sydney. . * ''Meliora Life'', edition II May 2011 (a publication of the St Joseph's College Foundation Ltd).

External links

St Joseph's College Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's College, Hunters Hill Boarding schools in New South Wales Educational institutions established in 1881 Catholic secondary schools in Sydney Association of Marist Schools of Australia Boys' schools in New South Wales Catholic boarding schools in Australia 1881 establishments in Australia Municipality of Hunter's Hill Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales Marist Brothers schools