The college, founded by the Goulburn Catholic Diocese in 1874, had been operated by the Christian Brothers from 1897[1] until its closure. It was one of a number of schools founded or taken over by the Christian Brothers in Australia in the 1890s. It attended the initial meetings leading to the formation of Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in 1892 but didn't ever take part in any of the association's activities. It is also a school which has a significant Rugby Union tradition.
The school ceased to exist in its present form in 2000 when it amalgamated with Marian College for girls in Goulburn to become Trinity Catholic College, Goulburn. The amalgamation was essentially due to declining enrolments, linked in part to Goulburn's decline in population and importance as a regional centre, a process which has been occurring gradually over the past century, particularly after the founding of Canberra in 1913. The respective schools in three different locations were then gradually consolidated on the old St. Patrick's campus.
The brothers continued to operate the boys' boarding residence but due to a lack of resources this facility was amalgamated with the girls' boarding school from North Goulburn at the old St. Patrick's campus in 2006. The responsibility for the boarding facilities transferred at this time from the brothers back to the now Archdiocese through the Catholic Education Office.[2] This ended 109 years of service by the Christian Brothers on the school site. The boarding facility was shut down entirely at the end of 2009,[3] completing 135 years of operation.
After the amalgamation, the teacher and professional historian Dr Bollen published a history of the college.[4]
Notable alumni
Michael Durack ("M.P.") and John Durack (J.W.), circa 1877–1881, sons of Irish immigrants who had fled the Great Famine to become one of Australia's most significant pioneer grazing families, opening up the Kimberley, WA. Their stories are told in the books by Dame Mary Durack, Kings in Grass Castles and its sequel, Sons in the Saddle.
Right Reverend Joseph Dwyer – circa 1881–1885, Bishop of Wagga Wagga 1918–1939[5] though other sources claim he instead attended St. Stanislaus College.[6]
Patrick Hartigan – 1892–1897, priest and poet, whose poems were collected in a book, and later filmed, under the title of Around the Boree Log, published under the pseudonym John O'Brien
Jack Tully – circa 1897–1902, Australian parliamentarian, Member for Goulburn in the NSW Parliament, 1925–1932 and 1935–1946 and Secretary of Lands 1930–1932 and 1941–1946.
Joseph Lamaro – circa 1907–1911, Attorney General of NSW 1931–1932
Billy Sheahan – circa 1907–1911, Attorney General of NSW 1953–1956
Reg Downing – circa 1916–1918, Attorney General of NSW 1956–1965
Laurie Tully – circa 1929–1933 Australian parliamentarian, Member for Goulburn in the NSW Parliament, 1946–1965 succeeding his father in the seat.
Bill O'Reilly – circa 1929–1930 Australian Test Cricketer, 1932–1946 and sports journalist.
Alan Reid – circa 1929–1930[7] political journalist and author, who coined the Australian political term "faceless men".
John Hannaford – circa 1962–1966, Attorney General of NSW 1992–1995
Terry Casey – 1963–1964, Rugby Union International – Wallaby (fullback)[8]
Simon Poidevin – 1971–1976, Rugby Union International – Wallaby (breakaway)
Neale Daniher – 1974–1978, Essendon VFL footballer, and later coach of the Melbourne Demons.
Notable staff
Very Reverend Patrick Dunne V.G., who was the foundation president[9] of the college (principal) in 1874.
Dr. John Gallagher, who was the second president of the college 1875–1888[10] and later Bishop of Goulburn[11] – 1895–1899 as coadjutor and from 1900 to 1923 as bishop in his own right.
^Bollen, David (2008), Up on the hill. A history of St Patrick's College, Goulburn., UNSW Press, ISBN978-0-86840-967-2
^"BISHOP DWYER DEAD". The Coff's Harbour Advocate. Vol. XXXII, no. 2543. New South Wales, Australia. 13 October 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 2 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia. He was born in Maitland in 1869, and was educated at St. Patrick's College, Goulburn, Holy Cross College, Dublin, and Propaganda College, Rome. ...
^Holt, Stephen (2012). "Reid, Alan Douglas (1914–1987)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 10 July 2016. The family migrated to Sydney in 1927 and Alan attended the Christian Brothers' schools St Francis of Assisi, Paddington, St Patrick's College, Goulburn, and Waverley College, Sydney.
^Casey, Terry. "Wallaby Fullback". Australian Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
^"BISHOP GALLAGHER AT TEMORA". The Freeman's Journal. Vol. XLVIII, no. 3059. Sydney. 21 August 1897. p. 18. Retrieved 10 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia. Their reference in the address to his long connection with St. Patrick's College was one of which he was especially proud. He had devoted the fourteen best years of his life in that laborious but happy field of duty — home of plain living and high thinking — towards renewing, in this fair young land, the old traditions of the Church, towards enabling our ingenuous Catholic youth to take their proper place in public life to fit them, if God so willed it, for the services of the altar and the labours of the sacred ministry, or to compete in noble rivalry for the highest prizes offered to learning and virtue and industry and character by the free institutions of our country.
^"BISHOP DWYER DEAD". The Coff's Harbour Advocate. Vol. XXXII, no. 2543. New South Wales, Australia. 13 October 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 2 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia. He was ordained priest in 1894 at St. John's Lutherans [sic], Rome, became a professor at St. Patrick's College, Goulburn, N.S.W., ...
^Alexander, Nicole (28 June 2013). "Greg Baron talks Apartheid, Moral Courage and Heroes". The Heart of Australian Storytelling. Nicole Alexander. Retrieved 10 July 2016. Every boy needs a hero, and I was lucky enough to find one among my high school teachers. His name was Jim Roxburgh, and he was a big, shaggy man, wide across the shoulders and heavily bearded. We all knew that he was a former Rugby International, had played for the Wallabies. But he wasn't a hero because he played a game, but because on those broad shoulders he carried a burden of pride, and anger, and good old fashioned humanity.