Stuartholme School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary day and boarding school for girls, located at 365 Birdwood Terrace,

Toowong Toowong ( ) is a riverside Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 12,556 people with a median weekly household income of $1,927. Geography Toowong is ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. Established in 1920 by the

Society of the Sacred Heart The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Soph ...

, the school caters for approximately 700 students from Years 5 to 12, including 150 boarders. Year 5 commences in 2024 and Year 6 commences in 2025. Stuartholme is a member of the

Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (abbreviated as AGSA) is a non-profit organisation that promotes the education of girls in single-sex girls' schools, and promotes the image of, and support the development of, girls' schools in Australa ...

(AGSA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA), and the Catholic Secondary Schoolgirls' Sports Association (CaSSSA). The school is listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.

History

Stuartholme is a part of the

Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Soph ...

, started in 1800 by Madeline Sophie Barat in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 1882 farmer Richard Wingfield Stuart purchased a 57-acre block of land on the slopes of Mount Coot-tha (then known as One Tree Hill) in Brisbane. He built a house on the property and called the farm and the house ''Stuartholme''. On Good Friday 16 April 1897, the house was destroyed by fire, which was believed to be caused by a meteor or "comet". In 1914 Reverend Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, visited Brisbane to meet

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

James Duhig and thought it was a good idea to start a school in Brisbane. The order of the Sacred Heart came to Stuartholme in 1917 because Duhig had invited them to run the school. In September 1917 Duhig purchased the land of the then-deceased Mr Stuart . Duhig laid the foundation stone of the school building on 25 May 1919. At that ceremony, Duhig revealed the coincidence that Richard Wingfield Stuart was the step-brother of Reverend Mother Janet Eskine Stuart. Although by then deceased, Reverend Mother Stuart was aware sisters from her order had been invited to Brisbane, but not that her step-brother's property would be the site of the new convent and school. In February 1920 the sisters of the Sacred Heart moved into the school. On 1 August 1920 Stuartholme was officially opened by

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

Bartolomeo Cattaneo assisted by Duhig, although the building was not yet completed. In the first year the school was run on the verandas of the cottages. The nuns and pupils lived in the cottages and with five students initially enrolled. The number of pupils grew and between 1925 and 1940 there were 36 students attending Stuartholme. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the school was used as the United States Army 42nd General Hospital, and the students did their studies at Canungra and

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s young women had stopped entering the religious life so Sacred Heart and other Catholic schools were staffed mainly by

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

people. David Manning was the first lay principal, appointed in 1983, who served until 2003. Daniel Crump is the current principal. In the past ten years Stuartholme has had some significant changes including a lot of re-modelling, but the Sacred Heart education has remained a part of the school curriculum. On 17 May 2013 the school was listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.

Co-curriculum

Sport

Stuartholme students may compete in sporting competitions conducted by the Catholic Secondary Girls School Sports Association and the Independent Schools Association. The sports Stuartholme compete in are:

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, touch football,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Notable alumnae

* Davida Allen – artist *

Tracey Curro Tracey Ilana Curro (born 27 November 1963) is an Australian journalist. Curro has previously been a news presenter on GMV-6, QTQ-9 and ATV-10 and a reporter on the Seven Network's ''Beyond 2000'', a science-technology show, and correspondent o ...

– journalist; former reporter for the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

's ''Beyond 2000'', and ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' (also attended Ingham State High School) *

Claire Holt Claire Rhiannon Holt (born 11 June 1988) is an Australian-American actress. She made her acting debut playing Emma Gilbert in the fantasy series '' H2O: Just Add Water'' (2006–2008), before moving to America and making her film debut in 2009 ...

– actress * Susan McDonald – Senator for Queensland * Jane Moran – national water polo champion and Olympic Bronze medalist * Katie Noonan – lead singer of '' george''

References

External links

Stuartholme School Website
{{Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia schools, state=collapsed Boarding schools in Queensland Catholic secondary schools in Brisbane Educational institutions established in 1920 Girls' schools in Queensland Catholic boarding schools in Australia Sacred Heart schools Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia 1920 establishments in Australia

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...