Principal's Report
Dear Parents & Carers,
Last week it was an absolute pleasure to take our four School Captains to the celebration of 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. We are very grateful to Mr Ross Fox and Catholic Education for assisting with funds to hire a bus with our local Catholic Schools to Canberra, to attend the special celebration. The Mass was held at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka and was led by His Grace, Archbishop Christopher Prowse. (Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn). Mrs Howe and I accompanied our four captains and immensely enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other Catholic schools on such a special occasion.
We are very proud of our 145 year history of providing a Catholic education to the Gundagai community. I have been doing some light research on the history of St Patrick’s School and would like to share these interesting facts.
- The first Catholic School opened in Gundagai in 1876 with the first classes taking place in the church, which was easily converted into a school room during the week.
- Little is known about the school or teachers at the time, except for Miss Mary Jane Walsh who taught at the school from 1884.
- The religious orders associated with the school were the Sisters of Mercy (until 1964), Sisters of Divine Saviour (1964-1967) and the Sisters of the Holy Faith (1968-1979). The Sisters of Mercy arrived in 1885 with Mother M Stanislaus as the head superior, taking charge of the school. The school was subsequently named St Stanislaus.
- The school was entirely run from donations made by the people and it was a credit to St Patrick’s Parish that the school survived so well.
- The school was built on the present day ‘Flash Jack’ accommodation site, while the infant’s school was located in the now Presbytery building.
- The name was changed to St Patrick’s in the late 70’s when the school was relocated to its present location.
I am sure that there is so much more to share over throughout the year as we continue to celebrate the history of Catholic Education.

Thank you to parents who were able to attend the Parent Information sessions last Wednesday evening. It was a great opportunity to visit your child/rens classrooms and hear about the wonderful learning opportunities offered this year. If you were unable to attend, please make sure you receive one of the class hand-outs.

This week I will be attending the annual Catholic Leaders Day and Retreat in Bowral. Please contact Mrs Wilson if needed in my absence.
We would also like to congratulate Kim Paton on accepting the chair position for Community Council at the AGM held last week and welcome Kate Graham, Sam Johnson and Lisa Ryan. More details in our community council report below.
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.
Christine Baron
Principal
St Patrick pray for us.