Sacred Heart/Our Lady of the Missions School Fremantle

1945 to 1963 Sacred Heart School

Junior Students 1940’s

In 1945 the Sisters were delighted to return to their home overlooking the Port after living for two years on Canning Highway.

Senior Students 1940’s

In 1946 the school re-opened though it was difficult to build up the numbers to their previous level.  The upside of the low teacher/pupil ratio was the quality of the tuition and the favourable reports from government inspectors and pleasing examination results.

In August 1952 the new Convent of Our Lady of Fatima was opened in Hammad Street, Palmyra, so the Sisters no longer had to travel there each day from Fremantle as they had done for 27 years.

Palmyra Convent

The High School in Fremantle had been closed during World War II and after the war was over it never really re-built its numbers.  It was decided that instead of under-utilising the buildings, the campus could be used to serve as a Juniorate where girls could discern a future missionary vocation while undertaking their secondary school education.  In 1953 the Juniorate/Juvenate “Virgo Potens” opened after a full scale renovation of the house on the hill, which was previously called “St. Philomena’s”, the original “Riverview.

Virgo Potens Juniorate

In 1954 Sisters living in the Fremantle Convent began travelling each day to St. Benedict’s in Applecross and in 1956 grades 5 and 6 opened at St. Benedict’s, Applecross.

One exciting event in 1954 was the visit of the Queen and Duke of Edinborough.  The pupils lined Canning Highway to wave as they passed by.

The pupil intake at Sacred Heart grew rapidly over the next few years. Mary Evans, a Juvenist from Narrogin, won the State Music medal for Intermediate Practical.  the High School continued overall to achieve very well in the music field.

By 1958 there was an influx of pupils in all but the Junior School of Tuckfield Street.  Day scholars as well as Juvenists now constituted the Secondary School population.  In this year there were 18 Juvenists, 7 from Melbourne.  Some alterations were made to the old two-roomed wooden school building.

1961 was the Centenary Year of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions.  First Year high school students began coming from St. Benedict’s after several years of trying to establish a High School there.  The attempt proved that it was not viable.  Overall that year, a high standard of success was achieved in Music, Art of Speech, French Alliance and in the Junior and Leaving Exams.

In 1963 the big new was the plans for a new High School building on the Tuckfield Street campus.  As often happens, the birth of something new necessitates the death of something old.  And so the 100 year old Moreton Bay Fig trees had to go….and what a major job that would prove to be!  The new school was to be named “Our Lady of the Missions” as a way of making known the Sisters’ identity as a missionary Order.  The school population increased and commendable academic, music and sporting records were achieved.

Mrs. Stacey from Palmyra joined the Staff.

Juvenists beneath the large Moreton Bay Fig trees