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THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOL
A lay couple, Mary and Micheal Burke established a school funded entirely by money collected by local catholic settlers. This school had only 2 teachers and 56 students, and was very close to where st Stephens is today. There were less than 1000 settlers and only a quarter of these were catholic. -
FIRST PERMANENT CHURCH
The first permanent church, st Stephens, was opened. It is also called the Pugin Chapel, because it was designed by a man called A W Pugin. It took one year to build and was built by Alexander Goold and Andrew Petrie. -
FIRST CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL
The First catholic secondary school, All Hallows, was established by Mother Vincent Witty and the sisters of mercy. -
ST JAMES SCHOOL
St James was established, staffed fully by lay teachers. At first, it only had 12 students and it is now the oldest Roman Catholic boys' school in Queensland. -
CHURCH AND STATE
The Divide between the Irish catholic and the English Protestants made a push to keep church and state separate. -
1900
at the end of the decade, there were 35 schools, funded entirely by their community. -
MANY NEW SCHOOLS
Archbishop James Duhig, the longest-serving bishop in the Catholic Church (50 years), invested in large tracks of land and established twenty-eight new schools. -
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WORLD WAR 2
During these hard times, catholic schools persevered and waved their fees so that families could pay when they could. Despite the war, nineteen new schools were opened. -
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LAY STAFF
The numbers within religious orders began to decline throughout the post war boom, so the employment of lay staff began. Lay staff still helped despite the budget restrictions and 26 new schools were opened. -
YEAR 10
Catholic schools continued to struggle with costs as compulsory year 10 schooling. -
NEW MONEY SOURCE
John Cullinane called a meeting of catholic parents who voted to strike, causing around one thousand students enrolling at state schools. Within twelve months, the government provided money to the catholic schools, which was the first time in almost a century that they had received government funds. It took twenty years to move from a community funding model to a government funding model. -
2000
The decade ended with 43,000 students, and 113 schools. -
1 TO 1 TECHNOLOGY
Kevin Rudd promised for 1-to-1 technology for all catholic schools. -
NOW
BCE has grown to 139 schools, 72,000 students and 11,000 employees.The schools are funded mostly by the commonwealth, and the rest is by parents and state.
