Time for some Newman Nostalgia and we're back! 🤩
Eighty years ago, in January 1942, seven Brigidine Sisters bravely came from Sydney to take over, from the Sisters of Mercy, the teaching at St Joseph’s Parish School on the corner of McCourt Street, West Leederville, and Salvado Road, Wembley, and to establish a secondary school in the parish.
Can you imagine the heat they faced as they refurnished and equipped the School, and established their convent in an existing, small and rather basic house at 12 Salvado Road, Wembley? Built as a home for teacher Patrick O’Connor in around 1915, when he died in 1922, it was bought by milk vendor Patrick Glynn and his wife, Kate.
In 1943, with St Joseph's School running smoothly, the Brigidine Sisters began the secondary school in the only place available – the shed at the back of the convent. The girls called this ‘the Cowshed’ and proudly dubbed themselves 'the Cowshed Girls'.
Watch this space for more next week!
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Images from the Sister Dorothea Hickey (1955) Photographic Collection and with thanks to the Town of Cambridge Local History Collection.
