Principal’s Address
This week marks Catholic Education Week, which began last Sunday and concludes today. Catholic Education week is a special time for all Catholic schools to celebrate their Catholic identity and the vital role they play in their communities.
It’s fitting, therefore, that we celebrate Foundation Day today, especially as this year holds even greater significance for our community with the commemoration of our 165th Anniversary and the Jubilee Year of Pilgrims of Hope. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in Geelong in 1859, and the establishment of Sacred Heart College in 1860. The Foundress Mother Xavier Maguire and her companions were truly ‘pilgrims of hope’ – women of courage and vision who imagined a future where women would be educated and empowered.
Their pioneering work in Catholic education began with Sacred Heart College in 1860 – a Convent, orphanage, boarding and day school. Soon after Geelong Sisters of Mercy established a convent and school in North Melbourne – St Aloysius College and Sacred Heart College in Kyneton. Over time, they expanded their reach, responding to requests made by local Parish Priests to staff 14 primary schools including:
- Holy Family – Bell Park
- Clairvaux, originally St Bernard’s and Mercier Primary Schools – Belmont
- St Francis Xavier – Corio
- St Mary’s – Geelong
- St Margaret’s – Geelong East
- St Patrick’s – Geelong West
- Nazareth – Grovedale
- St Anthony’s – Lara
- Christ the King – Newcomb
- St Robert’s – Newtown
- St Thomas Aquinas – Norlane
- Our Lady Star of the Sea – Ocean Grove
- St Aloysius Primary School – Queenscliff.
There’s no denying the Sisters of Mercy have played a vital role in Catholic Education in Geelong.
If I take the focus back to Sacred Heart College Geelong and we delve deeper into the story, what we see is the remarkable journey of women who stepped beyond the limitations of their time and social class. These women ventured into areas where few women of their era dared to go. They confronted injustice, oppression, and disadvantage with resilience, forming genuine friendships both within and beyond the convent walls. Most importantly, they taught women of all ages to take control of their own lives. This is what we celebrate today.
This story is far from finished. As we move into this next chapter, it will be individuals like you and I who will walk alongside the Sisters of Mercy, learning from their wisdom and transforming it into action. Together, we will continue to address injustice, oppression, and disadvantage, and, like the Sisters before us, we too will shape the future and we will do this with courage, hope, compassion and respect.
Anna Negro
Principal, Sacred Heat College, Geelong
