Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Tomorrow is a very important day in Fairfield and in my community and in the electorate of McMahon. Tomorrow, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School will celebrate its 90th anniversary. I'm sure all honourable members join me in congratulating the school, and I thank all honourable members for their support. Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School was formed in 1928 by Sister Flora and Sister Fabian. They were members of the order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, which, as honourable members know, was founded by St Mary of the Cross, formally known as Mary MacKillop, and Father Julian Tenison Woods to provide for the education of children in rural areas and poor areas. Well, Fairfield no longer quite qualifies as rural. We do have rural areas in my electorate, but Fairfield isn't one of them.

The service of the sisters and the school has continued over many years. I was there a few years ago for another anniversary and it was great to see so many sisters of the order of St Joseph who'd taught over the years return to Our Lady of the Rosary. Sisters of St Joseph taught my honourable friend, perhaps not at Our Lady of the Rosary at Fairfield but at another institution, and tomorrow we will celebrate the achievement. Sister Flora and Sister Fabian travelled every day from Guilford, which in those days was a significant journey. It's pretty easy these days—perhaps a 10-minute drive—but in those days it was a much more formidable journey. They later were given a house on Hamilton Road, which is the road that currently has my electorate office in it, in Fairfield West. They stayed there for seven years, thanks to the generosity of a local church patron, Mr Patrick Hayes. By 1941, the parish had grown and a four-room brick building was built by local handymen at the rear of the church. By 1947, in just a few years, the school had outgrown that expansion and more buildings were erected. In 1949, the school had 400 students.

From these small beginnings, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School became the thriving school that it is today. It's a very important part of our community and I've been visiting it for many years. I've seen the church grow and develop. I remember when it was a small white church. It's now been very significantly expanded and remodelled and is an important hub for our local community. Being where it is on that side of Fairfield station, it is well located for parents. I am often travelling through there in the morning and see parents dropping their kids off at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School. It is a very important institution.

At the beginning of 1992, the OLR primary moved to its present site, which was, of course, previously the Rosary High School, which no longer exists. The facilities were made available to the primary school, which has, it's fair to say, improved the amenity of the school enormously. The sisters of St Joseph continue to show leadership in education of students, with sisters from the Josephite order holding the principalship of the school until the year 2000. In 2008, Brother Nicholas Harsas, a Patrician brother—Patrician Brothers' College is the boys secondary college just around the corner—was appointed principal of the primary school. He currently takes leadership of a school of 670 students and 65 staff members. I've had the pleasure of knowing Brother Nicholas now for many, many years. He's an upstanding and respected member of our community. I'm sorry to tell the House, though, that he's leaving our community. He is going on to be principal of Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School in Carnes Hill, which I think I'm right in saying is in the electorate of Fowler. We'll miss him very, very much in the Fairfield community, but he can be proud of his achievements as principal of OLR primary over many years.

The school proudly continues to celebrate the traditions of the founding sisters of St Joseph. It's now a large, three-stream, co-educational school which continues to grow. I know that demand to go there is very, very strong. Many members of our community apply to go there. There's quite an effort by parents to get their children into OLR primary school, and that's a testament to their track record, their reputation and their achievements. Students from OLR go off now to Mary MacKillop high school, some to Cerdon College and many to Patrician Brothers' College, and they go with a very good grounding. The school has always been a very multicultural community, and it caters to the Catholic faith. For many migrants who've come over the years in waves, for many new arrivals in our community, one of their first decisions is to send their children to OLR, as is of course also the case for many longstanding Fairfield families.

So I do look forward joining the OLR community tomorrow for the celebration. In the morning we have our annual McMahon Pink Ribbon Morning Tea, which is the highlight of our calendar. We raise thousands of dollars for breast cancer and have a lot of fun. Then I'll be straight in the car and over to Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School to join them, but I wanted to mark the anniversary in the House of Representatives today.

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