St Mary's College Wellington is situated in the suburb of Thorndon in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The school is a state-integrated all-girls Catholic secondary school for years 9–13.

History

The school, which is one of the oldest existing schools in New Zealand, was founded in 1850 by Philippe Viard, first Bishop of Wellington and staffed from 1861 by a small group of religious sisters, the "Sisters of Mary", established by Viard. Part of the land on which the school is situated was donated by Lord Petre, the 11th Baron Petre (1793–1850), who was a director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...

and whose family seat

Thorndon Hall Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London. Formerly the country seat of the Petre family who now reside at nearby ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

was an important centre of Catholic Recusancy from the time of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. The area of Central Wellington in which the school is located is also named after Thorndon. Another part of the site was given by

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

Governor of New Zealand A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

out of public funds. In 1861 the school was taken over by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

(absorbing the earlier group) when they arrived in Wellington in that year. To begin with, the school was co-educational (boys and girls) and had a boarding facility attached. Nowadays the boarding facility is gone, and it is a single sex girls' school.

Enrolment

As a state-integrated school, the proprietors of St Mary's College charge compulsory attendance dues to cover capital costs. For the 2025 school year, the attendance dues payable is $1,147 per year per student. As of , St Mary's College has a roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , the school has an

Equity Index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...

of , placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 8 and 9 under the former

socio-economic decile In the education in New Zealand, New Zealand education system, decile was a key measure of socioeconomic status used to target funding and support schools. In academic contexts the full term "socioeconomic decile" or "socioeconomic decile band" wa ...

system).

Buildings

While most traces of the original buildings on the site have disappeared, buildings dating from the twentieth century as the latest, including the "Gabriel Block" which is now used as the school hall. The other two main blocks are "Carlow" and "McAuley". McAuley is named after Sister

Catherine McAuley Catherine McAuley, RSM (29 September 1778 – 11 November 1841) was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.Austin, Mary Stanislas"Sisters of Mercy."''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Ap ...

, who used her inherited fortune to found the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland. The school remains in the ownership of the Sisters of Mercy and describes itself as a "Mercy School". The Gabriel Hall and St Joseph's Providence Porch have Category 2 listings with

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

(formerly New Zealand Historic Places Trust). As most other New Zealand Schools do, students in years 11–13 sit NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) examinations.

Characteristics

* Number of Teachers: 33 * International Students: 4 * Ethnic make up of students: New Zealand European/Pākehā, 45%; Pacific, 22%; Māori, 16%; Asian, 14%; Other, 3%

Notable alumnae

* Margaret Butler (1883–1947) – sculptor. * Oroya Day (, 1931 – 2014) - art historian, academic, and community activist * Pip Desmond – Author and journalist. * Maddie Feaunati (born 2002) - international

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 ...

player; has played for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and for

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

in the Premiership Women's Rugby. * Patricia Grace (born 1937) – writer. * Ainsleyana Puleiata (born 2000) – international

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player. * Saviour Tui (born 2001) –

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player; has represented

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

internationally. * Beverley Wakem (born 1944) – Former Chief Ombudsman, president of the International Ombudsman Institute and chief executive of

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

. *

Therese Walsh Dame Therese Maria Walsh (born ) is a chief executive and business leader from New Zealand. Her particular successes include her roles as the chief operating officer for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and head of the organising body for the 2015 Crick ...

(born 1971) – chief executive and business leader; chief operating officer for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

and head of the organising body for the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

. * Joy Watson (née Evans) (1938–2021) – author of children's books. *

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Welling ...

(born 1948) – New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament,

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) *Ministry of Touri ...

and first female Mayor of Wellington.

References

References/Sources

* Lillian G. Keys, ''Philip Viard, Bishop of Wellington'', Pegasus Press, Christchurch, 1968. * Ernest Richard Simmons, ''Brief history of the Catholic Church in New Zealand'', Catholic Publications Centre, Auckland, 1978. * Michael King, ''God's farthest outpost : a history of Catholics in New Zealand'', Viking, Auckland 1997. * Mary de Porres Flannigan R.S.M., ''Mercy comes to Wellington : a history of St. Mary’s College'', St. Mary’s College Board of Trustees, Wellington, 2000. * Michael O'Meeghan S.M., ''Steadfast in hope : the story of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington 1850–2000'', Dunmore press, Palmerston North, 2003.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's College, Wellington Educational institutions established in 1850 Girls' schools in New Zealand Catholic secondary schools in the Wellington Region Schools in Wellington City Sisters of Mercy schools 1850 establishments in New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the Wellington Region Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington