St Vincent's College, Potts Point

St Vincent's College (colloquially known as Vinnies), is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day and boarding school for girls, located in Victoria Street, Potts Point, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The college is the oldest registered Catholic girls' school in Australia, founded by the Sisters of Charity as a co-educational primary school in 1858.^[2] St Vincent's College follows the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola. The college has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 714 girls in Years 7 to 12, including approximately 61 boarders.^{[citation needed]}

St Vincent's is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),^[3] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),^[1] the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA),^[4] and is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).^[5]

History

St Vincent's College was founded as the Victoria Street Roman Catholic School, by the Sisters of Charity in 1858, a year after the sisters established St Vincent's Hospital at the same site.

The school reopened as St Vincent's College, a secondary, fee-paying, private, independent school in May 1882, after the hospital's relocation to the neighbouring suburb of Darlinghurst.

In 2009, Mary Aikenhead Ministries (MAM) was established by the Holy See at the request of the Congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity of Australia and the St Vincent's College was transferred to MAM.

In 2018, St Vincent's College celebrated its 160th anniversary^[6] and in 2019 its 135th year of boarding.

Principals

Notable alumnae

• Lyn Ashley – actress
• Natarsha Belling – journalist and newsreader
• Kerrie Biddell – an Australian jazz and session singer, as well as a pianist and vocal teacher.
• Grace Boelke – one of the first female graduates in medicine from the University of Sydney
• Kerry Bray^[7] – awarded OAM in 2020 for 40 years of organising community running.
• Kathleen Commins (1909–2003) was an Australian journalist, the first female editor of Australia's oldest literary journal, Hermes (in 1931). Commins joined The Sydney Morning Herald in 1934 and became the first female sports writer in Australia, then became the first female executive at The Sydney Morning Herald, as Assistant to the Chief of Staff from 1948–1969.^[8][9][10]
• Melinda Gainsford-Taylor – Australian athlete and Olympian
• Alexandra Hargreaves – rugby player
• Deni Hines – singer and actress
• Winnie Kiap – Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
• Karen Krantzcke (deceased) – tennis player – ranked seventh in women's tennis singles in 1970. The WTA named an award – The Karen Krantzke Sportsmanship Award in her honour.^{[citation needed]}
• Neta Maughan – an Australian piano teacher, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010 "For service to music education as a teacher of piano, voice and music theory, to professional organisations, and as a mentor of young performers".
• Professor Anne Mijch – responsible for opening the first AIDS clinic in Melbourne. Awarded OAM in 1998 for service to medicine, particularly in the treatment and care given to patients suffering from infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS.
• Marjorie O'Neill – Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Coogee
• Colleen Pyne – awarded OAM in 1999 for services to education, and to the establishment of the North Australia Research Unit
• Patricia Rolfe^[11] – journalist and foreign correspondent for the Women's Weekly
• Gemma Sisia – humanitarian who established the School of St Jude in Tanzania in 2002, which "provides free, high-quality education to over 1,800 of the poorest Tanzanian children while boarding more than 1,400 students."^{[citation needed]}
• Kate Wild^[12] – investigative journalist and author, Walkley Award and Logie winner
• Lara Worthington – philanthropist and businesswoman
• Nichola Constant – Chief Commissioner of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales

See also

1. ^ ^{a b} "St Vincent's College". Schools – New South Wales. Australian Boarding Schools' Association. 2007. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
2. ^ About St Vincent's College Archived 6 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:14-05-2007)
3. ^ "New South Wales". School Directory. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
4. ^ Butler, Jan (2006). "Member Schools". Members. The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia. Archived from the original on 19 May 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
5. ^ ^{a b} "St Vincent's College". Association of Heads of New South Wales Independent Girls' Schools. 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
6. ^ St Vincent's College – History Archived 18 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:14-05-2007)
7. ^ Trembath, Murray (8 June 2020). "Kerry was always in the running for an award". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
8. ^ Lawson, Valerie (15 February 2003). "Most of the power, little of the glory". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
9. ^ "Hermes 1931 Volume 37 Michaelmas Term". University of Sydney Library. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
10. ^ "Women in the World". The Australian Women's Mirror. 16 June 1931. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
11. ^ "Journalist and mentor to many". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
12. ^ "Kate Wild". The Monthly. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2020.

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