History of St Joseph's
St Joseph’s Central school possesses a proud heritage and a 126 year old tradition of community-building and service in the Blayney region.
The origin of the school and the foundation of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Josephs are closely linked.
The Australian-New Zealand federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph sprang from the community which gathered around Father Julian Edmond Tension-Woods and Mother Mary Mackillop at Penola, South Australia, and begun to live according to a rule which Father Wood wrote in Adelaide in May, 1867. From this distant beginning a foundation was made at Perthville, on 16th July, 1872, and in 1881, only eight years after the foundation of the Convent at Perthville, four sisters arrived in Blayney to open a School.
The sisters laboured among the people with true charity, humility, dependence upon God’s providence, and much selfless love to spread the Good News as apostolic followers of Christ. In the present day absence of active sisters in the school community, the role of continuing the challenging work commenced and carried on by the sisters now rests in the hands of dedicated and committed lay teachers.
This courageous beginning and the intermediary years provide St. Joseph’s with a vital and on-going sense of mission and a dynamic and creative response to the challenges of our times. Perhaps the following extract, taken from the "First Draft Federation constitutions, 1969", draws not only upon the achievements of the past but gives substance and direction of the future:
We were founded with vision and courage precisely to undertake a new experience, to live as religious had not lived before and to work under conditions that they had not experienced before. The first Sisters of St. Josephs sensed the spirit of a new world in a way that has left its mark...
Time line of significant developments
1877 Foundation stone laid for the first Catholic Church in Blayney.
1880 Foundation stone laid for St Joseph’s Convent.
1881 13th March, first Catholic Church blessed and opened by Bishop Dunne.
1891 12th November, Stage 1 of the infants building, blessed and opened by Bishop Dunne.
1932 20th March, Stage 2 of the infant building, blessed and opened by Bishop Norton.
1954 14th March, Sanctuary of the present chapel, blessed and opened by Bishop Norton.
1957 29th March, St James Parish Hall, blessed and opened by Bishop Norton.
1960 20th November, St Theresa’s infants building, blessed and opened by Bishop Norton.
1967 18th July, secondary additions, blessed and opened by Bishop Thomas.
1981 2nd May, Catholic Church relocated to Adelaide Street, blessed and opened by Bishop Thomas.
1984 12th August, primary additions, blessed and opened by Bishop Patrick Dougherty.
2000 2nd April, infants Building blessed and opened by Bishop Patrick Dougherty.
[Researched and presented by Gabby Lynch and the 1997 Year Seven History Class (February, 1997)]