Clonard College: HISTORY

Clonard's history - both in name and nature - began in Ireland.

Ireland was home to Saint Brigid and became the departure point for innumerable Brigidine missions over the course of the years. Clonard is also a place name in Ireland (in County Meath) and, indeed, Saint Brigid had her own connections with Clonard, which was the location of one of her colleagues' (Saint Finnian's) monasteries.

It appears that the area around our present day Clonard College had become known as "Clonard" a very long time ago. This notion is reinforced by the fact that the Post Office on the corners of Minerva Road and Church Street has long held the official title of "Clonard Post Office". Moreover, there is a street in nearby Geelong West which is named Clonard Street.

The association between the name Clonard and the site that is now known as Clonard was made concrete in 1860 when Doctor Forster Shaw built a two storey house on lot 7, block XIII, Parish of Moorpanyal. He named the house "Clonard", the magnificent building we know as Clonard House (although at one time it was officially renamed Lelia House).

Clonard - as a school - came into existence (officially) in 1956. At the invitation of Father John Tresidder (Manifold Parish Priest), the Brigidine Sisters acquired the Clonard property and retained the name "Clonard" because of the association between Saint Brigid and Saint Finnian of Clonard in fifth century Ireland. There was a crisis in Catholic education at the time as Sacred Heart, Geelong's only Catholic college, was severely overcrowded. Father Tresidder received many refusals until the Brigidine Congregation willingly accepted his challenge.

Early in 1956, a group of founder sisters, including the much lauded Sister Lelia Grant, began taking classes, at Clonard. In its initial year, Clonard College boasted 40 students.

Clonard College's beginning: Form One students
pose in front of Clonard House, early in 1956.

Clonard College was officially blessed and opened on Februray 9th, 1958. The College experienced considerable and continual enrolment growth over the ensuing years, until a plateau in the mid 1980s.

Key moments in the College's development included the simultaneous construction of an assembly hall and library, in 1977, partly funded by the first Federal grant in its 21 year existence. In 1983, John Shannon became the first full time lay Principal (although Rick Flavell had filled the position on a short term basis). Clonard's leadership followed the example of some other Brigidine schools in adopting Co Principalship in 1997 when Vicki Myers (a former Clonard student) joined Michael Doyle in the Co Principal positions.

The late 1990s and early part of the 21st century saw revitalised enrolment growth, accommodated by expansive building programs, delivering a theatre, design education centre, materials technology room, expanded office space, refurbished science facilties, a gymnasium and multi purpose court within the school grounds and ... ever decreasing parking space! Despite this, the Clonard site retained an air of serenity and welcome, no doubt aided by the old world charm of the central building, augmented by the magnificent Norfolk Island pines - for decades a landmark on the Geelong skyline - and the unending attention given to the grounds and gardens by Clonard's long term custodian, Ian Baulch (Order of Australia), and his team.

In 2006 Clonard celebrated its 50th anniversary with a range of functions involving past students and key founders. The year of celebration reached its peak with the Anniversary Dinner at Kardinia Park and concluded with the 2006 Celebration of Achievement Evening at Costa Hall, whose theme reflected 50 years of achievement in the name of Clonard.

Scenes from Clonard's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2006.

Towards the end of 2006, Clonard said goodbye (with a special "Retirees Dinner") to a number of teachers representing hundreds of years of experience stretching back to the time of Sister Lelia. After a dozen years at the helm, Michael Doyle retired as Co Principal. The leadership model, and its personnel, was reorganised with Vicki Myers becoming Principal of the College in her own right. In physical terms, the College's expansion and development continued with the opening of the newly built two-storey Year 12 Center, containing a number of modern and flexible learning areas and office spaces on its upper floor and the large "Independent Learning Area", beneath, dedicated to serving the particular personal and academic needs of the College's Year 12 girls.

Another building program, initiated towards the end of 2007, demanded that Clonard become a multi campus college ... for a while.

The old Year 7 building, before (left) and after (right) demolition, 2008.

The year 7 rooms along Church Street were demolished early in 2008 to allow construction of a modern, two-storey state-of-the-art Year 7 Center, equipped with a range of sustainability technologies.

Clonard's year 8s occupied the old St Anthony's site during the 2008 building program.

The space demands of the construction site forced the departure of a year level - year 8s were chosen - to another site. To accommodate this demand, Clonard acquired access to the site of St Anthony's Primary School, just a few blocks north along Church Street, which had closed a few years previously. This snug site proved a homely haven for the 130 odd year 8 girls and their teachers.

Artist's impression of new Year 7 Center, seen from Church Street.
Due for completion, late 2008.