Trinity Catholic College 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 ...
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 â as opposed to a boarding school â 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 over two adjacent campuses 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, on the northern fringe of
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a city located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area, it is also a regional centre in the Northern River ...
, Australia.
History
St Mary's College for Girls was founded by the
Presentation Sisters in 1886, as a
single-sex boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
, and was merged with 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 ...
boys school in 1985 to create Trinity Catholic College.
Brother Peter Pemble, a former
principal of the College between 2001 and 2007, was sentenced in 2015 for child sexual abuse crimes against a boy that occurred in the 1970s while Pemble was a teacher at Marist Brothers High School, . After pleading guilty, Pemble was given a custodial sentence of 18 months, with a
non-parole period of nine months.
In 2017, College Principal, Brother John Hilet, reported to the media that he felt privileged when two
FTM transgender students confided in him that they were experiencing gender identity issues and sought to be identified as males.
On the 6 April 2022, it was announced that Jesse Smith would be appointed the role of College Principal following the conclusion of Brother John Hilet's tenure, having been acting principal since late 2021. He is the first
lay principal to be appointed at the college.
The college campus was significantly damaged in the
2022 eastern Australia flood. The school was given a three-year lease to operate at the Lismore campus of
Southern Cross University, with a decision to permanently relocate the school confirmed.
Notable alumni
*
Simon Baker
Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor and director. He first gained prominence on the Australian soap opera ''E Street (TV series), E Street'' (1992â1993). He later starred in the CBS legal drama ''The Guardian (TV ser ...
, actor
*
Katherine Hicks, actress
*
Maia Mitchell, actress/singer
*
Luke Scott, rugby league player
*
Catherine Terracini, actress
See also
*
List of Catholic schools in New South Wales
Below is list of Catholic schools in the state of New South Wales. It is correct as of June 2023.
Systemic primary schools
Catholic high and Kâ12 schools
Special schools
See also
{{stack, {{portal, New South Wales, Schools, Catho ...
*
Catholic education in Australia
References
External links
*
{{Association of Marist Schools of Australia
Educational institutions established in 1985
Catholic secondary schools in New South Wales
1985 establishments in Australia
Association of Marist Schools of Australia
Presentation Sisters schools
Lismore, New South Wales
Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore