| 1862 |
Classes for Catholic children were commenced by Mrs Morris. |
| 1898 |
Father Hayes became parish priest of Burnie and saw the need for a more formal Catholic education system so he invited Sisters of Mercy from Deloraine to assist him in establishing a new school in the area. |
| 1900 |
Sisters of Mercy arrived on January 9th and on January 15th the new convent school commenced with 90 pupils. Classes were held in the Star of the Sea Church where they continued until 1912. Desks needed to be packed away at the end of each week and replaced with the church seats ready for Sunday Mass. Mother Augustine Molloy, Sisters Mary Josephine Gwydir and Evangelist Cody were the first Sisters of Mercy to teach at the school.
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| 1912 |
Foundation stone for the new school, Stella Maris, situated next to the Star of the Sea Church was laid on May 19. The official opening of the three school rooms was held on October 27. |
| 1951 |
The foundation stone was laid for the new Stella Maris wing – the school population had grown to almost 300 pupils. This increase was due largely to the establishment of the Associated Pulp and Paper Mills complex at South Burnie. |
| 1952 |
The new school building at Stella Maris, costing 17,000 pounds ($34,000) welcomed 350 pupils at the start of the new school year in January.
Official opening was held in August. |
| 1953 |
Official registration of Stella Maris Regional College as a secondary school.
By this time there were over 500 pupils from prep to matriculation. |
| 1954 |
Three Christian brothers arrived in Burnie to look at the site for a secondary college (now Marist Regional College ). |
| 1956 |
Archbishop Young placed the parish in the care of the Society of Mary. This was the start of a strong religious, educational and social association between the Sisters of Mercy and the Marist Fathers in Burnie.
The first Marist Parish Priest was Fr John Smith and his assistant was Fr Vincent McCabe. They officially took over the parish on March 17. |
| 1958 |
The decision was made by the Provincial of the Marist Order, Fr James Harcombe, to build a boys' college costing ‘at least 100,000 pounds ($200,000)', on land purchased in 1955 by Fr Joe Howe. The foundation stone was laid on November 23 on the current Marist Regional College site. |
| 1959 |
Marist College was officially opened on 15 th November by His Grace Revd Guilford Young, Archbishop of Hobart with Fr H.F. Davis as rector. The College had commenced with an enrolment of 90 boys. Archbishop Young was the Patron of the College.
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| 1960 |
The Marist College magazine ‘The Sword' was first published, named after the instrument used to martyr St James, Patron of the College. Student population was 150. |
| 1962 |
Marist College band was formed under the leadership of Mr Leo O'Donnell and Father Geoffrey Till. |
| 1964 |
Marist College joined the Independent Schools' Association of Tasmania. School population was 321. |
| 1965 |
Construction of the new Stella Maris Regional Girls' College began on land next to Marist College. |
| 1966 |
In March Stella Maris Regional Girls' College opened with Sr Florence (Sr Marie Kehoe) as Principal. Official Opening was held on 19 June. Co-educational classes commenced with a small number of girls attending Marist College for lessons. |
| 1967 |
Marist College student numbers had grown to 383. The College successfully applied to become an internal accrediting school, that is, the first Independent School in Tasmania to gain authority to conduct the Schools Board internally.
Archbishop Young unveiled the bronze statue of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, situated on the outside wall of the Chapel. Costing $1,300 it was the work of Sydney artist Stephen Moore. The statue was donated by Mrs M. Whelan of Burnie, in memory of her husband Joseph. |
| 1969 |
The pavilion at the oval was completed and two squash courts were built as a commercial venture. |
| 1971 |
The first steps were taken in the planning of the new Marist Regional College. At that time Sr Cecilia Bridgman was the Principal of Stella Maris Regional Girls' College and Fr Bernard Hosie was the Principal at Marist College. |
| 1972 |
Amalgamation of the two Colleges took place. There were four Sisters of Mercy and eight Marist priests on staff at this time. Marist Regional College opened with 555 students; 405 boys (an all time high), and 150 girls. Boarder numbers (boys only) were 130.
With the amalgamation came the new College crest. From Stella Maris Regional College came the star; symbol of Mary, the Patroness. From Marist College came the monogram A.M.; monogram of Mary, from whose name was derived the name ‘Marist'. The College motto was “Love the Truth'.
The annual College magazine changed its name from ‘The Sword' to ‘Kalori', an aboriginal term meaning ‘message stick'.
The financial affairs of the College were taken over by a Board of Management under the direct control of Archbishop Guilford Young. |
| 1975 |
This was the last year that boarders were accepted at Marist Regional College. |
| 1978 |
Official Opening of Stella Maris Primary School, in Futuna Avenue, on June 18. This was the end of an era for St Anne's in Montello – it closed and its 60-odd students were transferred to the Stella Maris Primary School. |
| 1985 |
Sr Joan Thomas, who had joined the staff at Marist Regional College in 1983 as Deputy Principal, was appointed Principal replacing Fr Garry Reynolds. She was the first woman to be appointed to this position as well as the first female Principal of a co-educational secondary college in Tasmania. |
| 1991 |
Fr Ray Chapman appointed Principal of the College and from 1992-1997, Sr Anne Arundel appointed as Deputy Principal, continuing the involvement of the Sisters of Mercy at the College. |
| 1993 |
November marked the end of an era for the Sisters of Mercy. Because of the shortage of Sisters, the administration of Stella Maris was handed over to lay staff with Mrs Kathleen Siggins becoming the first lay Principal.
Father William Ryder was appointed Principal of the College and served until 2000. |
| 1998 |
Due to the shortage of Sisters available to lead the College, the Sisters of Mercy withdrew from co-congregational responsibility of the College.
The Sisters of Mercy continued to be represented on the staff of the College with the presence of Sr Kathlyn O'Brien, as family liaison person. Sr Kathlyn began her ministry at the College in 1998 having taught at Stella Maris, 1967-71. |
| 2000 |
Governance of the College moved from the Society of Mary to the Marist Regional College Governing Council, led by the Archbishop (Revd Adrian Doyle), with the membership made up of a representative of the Marist Fathers, the Sisters of Mercy, the Director of Catholic Education and two local representatives. |
| 2001 |
Fr Patrick Kervin was appointed Principal. |
| 2003 |
Susan Chen (Acting Principal from June 2002) was appointed as the first lay Principal.
At the end of the year the College lost the presence of a teaching Marist Father on staff when Fr Paul Pearce was appointed to a parish ministry in Victoria.
The Colin Theatre, named after Jean Claude Colin, co-founder of the Society of Mary, was opened in October as a result of the refurbishment of the Science Demonstration Room. The new theatre has seating for 138 and a range of information technologies to enable large group presentations. |
| 2004 |
Refurbishment and extensions enabled the development of a second Home Economics kitchen and improved MDT facilities. These were required as a result of increasing student enrolments. |
| 2005 |
Fr Garry Reynolds, a former Principal at the College, was welcomed as the College Chaplain. |
| 2007 |
On March 15, the College gymnasium, the Harcombe Centre, was blessed and opened by Archbishop Adrian Doyle. The $3,600,000 complex, consisting of two classrooms, kitchen, bathroom facilities, double size stadium, weights room, staff room and storage, was named after Fr James Harcombe SM to commemorate his work as Australian Provincial from 1954-1959 and his involvement in the decision to build and govern Marist College in Burnie.
On 6 December, the Performing Arts Centre, Conway Hall, was blessed by Archbishop Adrian Doyle and opened by Dr Dan White, Director of Catholic Education. The Theatre was named after Sr Mary Sabina Conway RSM, Sister of Mercy and teacher of Music in Burnie for 56 years between 1920 and 1981. |
| 2008 |
Marist Regional College received a new Constitution. At the insigation of Archbishop Adrian Doyle, Marist Regional College Inc was un-incorporated and the Roman Catholic Church Trust Corporation of the Archdiocese of Hobart became the employer of all staff in Archdiocesan Colleges. Responsibility to employ staff at MRC remains with the Principal, delegated by the Trust Corporation through the Marist Regional College Governing Council. |
| 2009 |
Mrs Candi Dempster began her appointment as Deputy Principal.
The College celebrated 50 years of Marist education in Burnie with class reunions on 13 February, Anniversary Dinner on 14 February, College Mass, Blessing and Opening of the Geoffrey Coombs Memorial Garden on 15 February and College Assembly on 17 February at 10am, exactly 50 years after the first College Assembly. The Memorial Garden was paid for with donations from the College Old Scholars. The garden was named after first day pupil, Geoffrey Coombs, who lost his life serving in the Vietnam War.
In June, the College was re-registered by the Tasmanian Schools' Registration Board for 2010-2015.
The College received $1.97 million dollars from the Federal Government to build a new Year 7 learning centre. |
