Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Sydney

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College is a Catholic secondary college for girls, founded in 1897 by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, members of a religious congregation founded by Father Jules Chevalier in France in 1874. It is located in the Sydney suburb of Kensington.

History and description

The College was moved to the Kensington site in 1913 and until 1995 was administered by the Sisters. It is part of the system of schools under the auspices of the Catholic Education Office in the Sydney Archdiocese.

At its opening, the college was an impoverished Catholic school, with little or no support from the government. As a result, the schools oldest structure, the Fyfe Wing, was not completed immediately, and construction stalled during 1914 when funds dried up. In 1915, the Franciscan monk Friar Tony Macfarlane was assigned to teach mathematics and science at the school. Friar Tony Macfarlane had a strong background in carpentry and a brief career as a Civil Engineer prior to taking his vows as a monk. Friar Macfarlane took it upon himself to complete the construction of the school's main building, in an effort to remove classes from the OLSH convent next door. The OLSH nuns were involved in administration and some minor laboring work, with many parishioners volunteering their knowledge and labour time to help. The college was thus completed. The Fyfe Wing was listed as a heritage site in 1984.

Every year, the school celebrates this achievement on the Feast of St Francis. The school holds a bake sale, with all proceeds going to missionaries in Papua New Guinea and housing projects in the Northern Territory.

The college's present location in Kensington makes it accessible from the city and close to the University of New South Wales. It draws most of its students from the immediate local area and from Brighton-Le-Sands/Sans Souci. It is surrounded by community resources and leisure facilities.

The campus is adjacent to the OLSH Provincial House, OLSH Convent and St Joseph's Aged Care Facility. It is near the Sacred Heart Monastery, Chevalier Resource Centre, and the parish church and primary college of Our Lady of the Rosary.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to OLSH College.

• OLSH College Kensington website