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St Anthony’s – Coolgardie Convent

24/03/2019 By 2 Comments

We have been fortunate indeed to have been given access to the admission records of St Anthony’s, Coolgardie or The Coolgardie Convent. The records are being made available to us by the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea Archives and Heritage. We very much appriciated their assistance. The first records we had from a Catholic school on the OFH  web site, was from  St Michaels in Kalgoorlie.

St Anthony’s Convent

In 1896, a four-roomed iron shack operated on the site the convent occupies today,it masqueraded as a tobacconist’s shop by day and a brothel by night.

The Catholic Church purchasesd the land and the Convent was erected on three allotments on the corner of Moran and Lindsay Streets.

When the Royal Hall was acquired by the Roman Catholic Church in 1898, it was used as a school by the Sisters of Mercy who were housed in a series of rooms west of the main building.  A new ₤5,000 Convent School opened in 1903, on block 182 Lindsay Street.

St Anthony's Convent Coolgardie Boys 1904

St Anthony’s Convent Coolgardie Boys 1904

Six months after the laying of the foundation stone, the Convent was officially opened on August 2, 1903 by Bishop Gibney. Father Farrell, Superior of the Redemptorist in Australia, gave a powerful address but made no mention of the history of the site, other than to say it had formerly been

‘inhabited by snakes and savages’.

Built of tuck-pointed brick, the Convent was designed mainly for school purposes and had accommodation for forty boarders. Fitted with the latest improvements, the building was described as

‘a welcome addition to the architectural beauty of the town’.

An opportunity to view the interior of a convent rarely presents itself, but when St Anthony’s was opened, the public were invited to view the conditions under which the community of the Sisters of Mercy would live.

Describing the Convent, the Coolgardie Miner wrote: ‘The main school on the ground floor adjoins the Box and Music Rooms. There is an ambulatory, infirmary, reception room, parlour, Sisters’ Refectory, kitchen and pantry. The boarders’ dormitory on the first floor has lofty walls and is well lighted with bathrooms and toilets, bedrooms, vestry, oratory and community room. Around the back of the building which forms three sides of a rectangle are broad verandas on the ground and first floors.

First Record Book for St Anthony’s Convent Coolgardie

When Coolgardie was booming, the Convent overflowed with children, not only from the town, but also from all the outlying mining centres.

This first small exerpt, which has been most carefully transcribed by one of our valuable volunteers, Michele Burgum, will give you a taste of whats to come. This is only the first page of the first book that we have been given a copy of and we hope that further pages will be forthcoming.

Its fortunatye that the school used the same record books as the State Schools so that we will be able to incorporate it easily into the records of other schools for ease of searching.

If you have ant queries or any feed back I would love to hear from you:-
research@outbackfamilyhistory.com.au

Its interesting to note that only tweo of the children were actually born in Coolgardie.

IMPORTANT:- The full record for each child, on the Outback Family History web site, also has the parents name, occupation and the religion as well.

Surname Christian Name Admission Address Date of Birth Where Born Last School Parent’s Name Occupation Denom
BARRY Edward 21/1/1898 Ford St, Coolgardie 4/03/1905 Queensland James Barry Miner RC
BOCK Fred 17/03/1905 Shaw St, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 Silverton NSW Government School Theodore Bock Brewer RC
BRAMLEY Florry 19/03/1905 King St, Coolgardie Victoria Government School George Bramley Engineer
BROUN Daniel 12/03/1905 East Montana, Coolgardie 16/8/1893 Broken Hill NSW Daniel Brown Miner RC
CASSERLY Alice 19/03/1905 Bulla Bulling 7/03/1905 South Australia Paul Casserly Miner RC
CASSERLY Florence 19/03/1905 Bulla Bulling 9/03/1905 South Australia Paul Casserly Miner RC
DEERING Mathew 11/03/1905 East Montana, Coolgardie 10/7/1892 New South Wales Maggie Deering Miner RC
DEERING Rosie 11/03/1905 East Montana, Coolgardie 10/7/1892 New South Wales Maggie Deering Miner RC
DOOLAN Myrtle 13/03/1905 King St, Coolgardie 7/03/1905 South Australia Michael Doolan Fetler RC
DUNNE Martin 21/1/1898 Woodward St, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 New South Wales Corneilius J Dunn Miner RC
DURANT Annie 17/03/1905 Bayley Street, Coolgardie 9/11/1891 Melbourne Government School George Durant Carter RC
EDGE Jack 19/03/1905 Lindsay St, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 Port Augusta SA Government School William Polglase Miner
GRIFFIN Ada 21/1/1898 East Montana, Coolgardie 22/10/1893 Queensland Phillip Griffin Miner RC
HIENE Mabel 10/5/1899 Lady Loch Rd, Coolgardie 4/12/1891 Lady Loch WA John Hiene Wood cutter
HIENE Ethel 10/5/1899 Lady Loch Rd, Coolgardie 7/4/1893 Lady Loch WA John Hiene Wood cutter
LANCASTER Ernest 19/03/1905 Sylvester St West, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 Queensland Government School Fred Lancaster Miner RC
McGUINESS Frank 19/03/1905 Bayley Street, Coolgardie 9/03/1905 Victoria N/A Carter RC
NYHAN Carmel 13/4/1899 Montana Hill, Coolgardie 8/03/1905 Young NSW James Nyhan Ganger R RC
O’CONNOR Joseph 13/03/1905 Matherson St, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 Broken Hill NSW John O’Connor Agent RC
O’SHEA William 14/03/1905 Bayley Street West, Coolgardie 6/03/1905 Victoria Joseph O’Shea Sanitary RC
PRESTON Frank 16/03/1905 Lady Loch Road, Coolgardie 20/12/1894 Fremantle Tom Preston Miner RC
QUINE Elsie 19/03/1905 Toorak, Coolgardie 5/03/1905 Kalgoorlie Government School N/A Brewer
ROGERS George 19/03/1905 Sylvester St, Coolgardie 6/03/1905 Victoria Government School George Rogers Load carting
SHERLOCK Patrick 16/03/1905 Lady Loch Road, Coolgardie 9/03/1905 New Zealand Fred W Luttcke Miner RC
SMETHERAM Sydney 14/03/1905 Golden Bar Mine, Coolgardie 30/6/1890 Bendigo Vic Wm Smetheram Miner
STEWART Stella 19/03/1905 King St, Coolgardie 9/03/1905 N/A Government School N/A Inspector
TOUZEL John 18/8/1899 Lady Loch Road, Coolgardie 19/8/1891 Kadina SA Louis Touzel Carpenter RC
WALTHO Alice 18/03/1905 Shaw St, Coolgardie 2/9/1891 Geelong Victoria St Joseph’s Perth George Waltho Cordial maker RC
WALTHO William 18/03/1905 Shaw St, Coolgardie 28/10/1892 Geelong Victoria St Joseph’s Perth George Waltho Cordial maker RC
WOODWARD Jessie 19/01/1902 McDonald St, Coolgardie 22/1/1892 New South Wales Elijah Woodward Engine driver RC

St Anthony’s Convent Girls in uniform, outside St Mary’s school.

Miss Ethel BREGENZER : W.A. Record Saturday 24 January 1914, page 20

Miss Ethel BREGENZER : W.A. Record Saturday 24 January 1914, page 20

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History
My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.
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Comments

  1. Esther Grogan says
    31/03/2019 at 10:28 am

    I knew St Anthony’s Convent in Coolgardie very well. When I was married I lived there, and used to have a lot to do with the school,. I was President of a group that sent out religious correspondence to the children that lived on the Nullabour, and once or so a year the children would come in and stay at the boarding school and have workshops etc. The older girls were involved in this and would correspond with the children who lived out there. No FB or internet in those days. It would have been in 1960’s. . My daughter now the Hon. Kate Doust lived in Coolgardie and used to escape from where we lived at the beautiful building in the town – Law Court and one day go to the Government School, and then the next day turn up at St Anthony’s, so the Nuns decided to let her start school – no kindy’s in those days, and she did. By memory there was Sr Roberta, Mother Regina that I can recall. Sr Roberta worked in the kitchen – often see her chopping the wood for the stove.

    We left Coolgardie as the town’s mine had closed and husband was in the Post Office, and the Post Office was downgraded. Great little place to grow up in.

    Reply
  2. evelyn.g8@bigpond.com says
    08/07/2019 at 9:46 am

    Hi Moya.. Extremely interested in stories of the Convent, as my mother was a boarder there for 6 years & I was in the convent for 1 year at the age of 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 That was during the Depression & times were tough. The nuns taught me to sing, which I did for my parents when they came to visit from time to time. I could carry a tune & remember the words even as a 4 year old. . Io hope you can access more names & records as I would love to see my mother’s name. She left in 1916 aged 13 ./

    Reply

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