St Brigid’s Parish Hall (fmr)

St Brigid’s Parish Hall was the original purpose-built school on this site. Designed by architect J. J. Talbot Hobbs, and run by the Sisters of Mercy, the school was erected in 1889 and consisted of the hall and two classrooms. This replaced a temporary classroom which had been adapted from a small cottage the previous year, although it was far from suitable for the purposes of operating a school.

Catherine McAuley founded the Institute of Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831, with the sisters concentrating on helping and educating poor women and nursing the sick. The Order rapidly spread throughout Ireland, into England and to North America, Australia and New Zealand. The first group of Sisters of Mercy arrived in Western Australia in January 1846 at the invitation of the Catholic Bishop, John Brady.

Established as a branch of the Victoria Square Convent, St Brigid’s Convent in West Perth opened in a cottage near the corner of John and Fitzgerald streets in 1888. In July that year, a mixed school was opened on the site. After a ceremony to bless the new school, “fifty-eight small boys and girls” were enrolled, which seems to have been many more than the Sisters of Mercy had expected.

The temporary school proved very inadequate, so a permanent building was rapidly commissioned from architect J. J. Talbot Hobbs, who was later to establish himself as one of Western Australia’s most significant designers. The foundation stone was laid in February 1889, with a ceremony that saw children from all the local Catholic Schools in a procession from the temporary building to the building site, followed by the cathedral choir singing a hymn, the Sisters of Mercy themselves, and finally altar boys and the Bishop.

The new school was to consist of a hall measuring 18m by 7.5m, with two “commodious” classrooms attached. The construction went very smoothly, meaning the school could open ahead of schedule, on 30 May 1889. By this time more than 80 children were enrolled.

By 1920, accommodation at the school was proving not only inadequate, but a danger to the health of teachers and pupils alike due to overcrowding. However, lack of money held by the Catholic Church in Western Australia and the outbreak of World War I had prevented earlier intervention.

A new two-storey building was designed by architect Richard Dennehy. Built to accommodate 450 students, the building was opened by the Archbishop on 3 April 1921. The former school building on the corner of John and Fitzgerald streets was converted to a Parish Hall. Costing £1,300, the work (including the installation of a kitchenette) was completed in time for the opening on 16 August 1921. The hall was described as “one of the best equipped in the city and will be a great parochial utility. The hall completes a splendid block of church buildings.”

St Brigid’s Primary School closed in 1976 and two years later, Perth Technical College’s Department of Art and Design moved into the empty school and Parish Hall. Although the College viewed the move as temporary, considerable sums of money were expended in order to make the rooms workable as studios, classrooms and administrative areas.

Today, the Parish Hall has been restored and still stands as a reminder of the importance of the Catholic Church, and the Sisters of Mercy, in the history of education in Western Australia.

WA Record 19 July 1888

WA Record 7 February 1889

West Australian 31 May 1889

WA Record 9 April 1921