St Margaret Mary's College is an all-girls

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

in the suburb of Hyde Park,

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and caters for years 7–12.

History

In 1936, the first

Sisters of the Good Samaritan The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congrega ...

arrived in Townsville to run the Saint Margaret Mary's Primary school. Bishop McGuire had purchased ‘Woodlands’, in Hyde Park from the Cummins family so that it could be used as a convent, which the Sisters named Saint Philomena's. In 1954, Bishop of Townsville, H.E. Ryan laid the foundation stone for St Margaret Mary's church and in 1956 the present Church was opened on the current site of the college. Saint Margaret Mary's College was officially opened on 22 February 1963 by the then Bishop of Townsville, H.E. Ryan. The school consisted of four classrooms, one office, staffroom, tuckshop, cloakroom and a ‘modern’ science lecture room. Fifty students were enrolled, although the school had capacity for 200 girls. The school was operated by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and the first Principal was Mary de Lourdes. The parish priest at the time, Monsignor Vandeluer, was the driving force behind the establishment of the college. The first lay Principal was Mike Byrne who was appointed in 1982. Currently Kathy Park is the principal of St Margaret Mary's College as of 2012 taking over for Peter Griffin who was principal in 2010–2011. Over the years the college has shaped its curriculum to reflect current educational trends and best practice. In 1997, Vocational, Education and Training (VET) subjects were introduced.

Campus

Saint Margaret Mary's College has seen a number of major projects that include: a multipurpose sports facility, extension to library and staffroom, a textiles room, a new chapel and tuckshop as well as renovations to the kitchen, library, administration block and laboratories. In 2005 two new computer rooms and class rooms were built and refurbishment commenced to create four state of the art Science rooms and a Graphics room. This refurbishment has since been completed and is now currently enjoyed by the 600+ students of the college. Currently the school is undergoing extensions to accommodate year 7's. The new buildings are a new administration block, dance room, art room etc.

AFL Team Achievements

Junior Female (Years 7-9)

* AFL North Queensland Schools Cup : Champions: 2024

References

Educational institutions established in 1963 Girls' schools in Queensland Private schools in Queensland High schools in Queensland Schools in Townsville 1963 establishments in Australia Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia {{Queensland-school-stub