St Laurence's College

St Laurence's College (known colloquially as Lauries) is a private Catholic school for boys located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1915.[2] As of 2021, the college has an enrolment of over 2100 students from Year 5 to Year 12. St Laurence's is a College in the Edmund Rice Tradition. St Laurence's is currently associated with the Associated Independent Colleges sporting association.

St Laurence's College
Address
82 Stephens Road, South Brisbane

4101
Information
MottoLatin: Facere et Docere
(to do and to teach)
Established1915
PrincipalChris Leadbetter[1]
CampusSouth Brisbane
Colour(s)Black and Gold    
Websitewww.slc.qld.edu.au

Some of the college's historic buildings are listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.[3]

Gair Field, St Laurence's College, July 2010

History

The college was officially opened and blessed on Sunday 11 July 1915 by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane James Duhig. The school was operated by the Christian Brothers.[4][2][5] On the first day there were 270 students and a staff of five teachers. The monastery for the Brothers was built in 1917.[2]

Since 1961, the school has also operated sporting fields in the southern Brisbane suburb of Runcorn, which contains 8 playing fields and a function centre.[2]

In 1977 the school established an outdoor educational facility, Camp Laurence, at Lake Moogerah, to the west of Brisbane.[2]

In 1994 a College Board was established as an advisory group for the principal. In 1996 the first lay principal, Mr D Frederiksen, was appointed with the Christian Brothers retaining ownership and control of the College.[2] The last of the brothers left the monastery in 2009, and the building was converted in 2010 into the school's administration building.[2]

In 2010, as part of an agreement with the adjacent Mater Hospital Brisbane, the school's land was leased for 25 years to build a six-storey car park, which now houses the college's synthetic oval on top along with a 1500 seat auditorium.[2]

Notable alumni

Alumni of St Laurence's College are known as "Old Boys" and may elect to join the school's alumni association, the St Laurence's College Old Boys Association. Notable alumni include:

Business

Entertainment, arts and the media

Politics, law and public service

Sports

Crime

July 2008 Attack on Students

On July 28, 2008, a group of youths armed with a meat cleaver and a steel bar stormed St Laurence's School campus in South Brisbane and attacked two 15-year-old boys. One was slashed across the face and he had to undergo surgery. Another suffered deep cuts to his lower back.[6] Seven individuals, aged between thirteen and eighteen, have been charged over the attacks.[7]

Sexual Assault

The college has had a history of sexual assaults [8] In 2015 at a candlelight mass hosted by Ian McDonald, St Laurence's previous principal, he apologised for the sexual assults which he said "must never happen again". Ex-Brother Brian Dennis Cairns was charged with sexual assault offences in April 1984 of 12 male pupils aged from 10 to 12 years of age. Cairns was jailed in 1985 and again in 2014.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Principal's Welcome". St Laurence's College. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  2. "History". St Laurence's College. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. "St Laurence's College". Brisbane Heritage Register. Brisbane City Council. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  4. Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN 978-1-921171-26-0
  5. "ST. LAURENCE'S SCHOOL, SOUTH BRISBANE". The Catholic Advocate. IV (201). Queensland, Australia. 15 April 1915. p. 16. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. By Robyn Ironside, Michael Wray and Patrick Lion. "Teens charged after schoolyard stabbing". Herald Sun (July 29, 2008). Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  7. "Seven arrests over St Laurence's stabbing". CathNews. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  8. By Brittany Vonow. "Brisbane's St Laurence's College apologises for sex abuse of boys". The Courier-Mail (February 20, 2015 10:00pm). Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  9. "Victims bring ex-Brother Brian Cairns to justice, again". Broken Rites Australia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
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