St Mary's Primary School, West Melbourne

St Mary's Primary School was a Roman Catholic school located in West Melbourne and was part of the parish of St Mary Star of the Sea, West Melbourne. The parish complex included a school for boys and one for girls each using the same or similar school name. The school opened around 1855 and operated from a stone building, built in 1854, which served as both church and school. It is thought to be one of the earliest parish schools established in Victoria (Australia)Early historyFollowing the discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s and the granting of statehood to the Colony, the population of Melbourne rose quickly from 177 at the time of settlement in 1836 to 80,000 in 1854 and just seven years later that figure had risen to 140,000. The needs of the ever-expanding population led to the establishment of places of worship, hospitals and schools. In 1854 a simple single aisled stone church, consisting of a nave and chancel, was constructed on land granted to the Catholic Church in West Melbourne. This building, known as St Mary's Star of the Sea, was to serve a dual purpose as a church on Sundays and a school during weekdays. Although a new, much grander church was opened in 1900, the old church remained in use as a school until 1913 when it was demolished.In the early years the children of St Mary's parish were taught by Catholic lay teachers and were mostly segregated into classes for boys, taught by males, and girls taught by women. Classes were under the charge of a teacher who had received their training and certification overseas, to a large extent in Ireland. These ‘head’ teachers were supported by one or two assistants and came under the auspices of the Parish priest.