MBHS Darlinghurst

History

THE LESS-KNOWN BACKGROUND OF THE FOUNDING OF MBHS DARLINGHURST

The Departure of the Marist Brothers from the St Mary’s Cathedral School

This topic is a source of continuous fascination for some Brothers. Much ink has been spilt on this topic including articles written by both Christian and Marist Brothers. I consider Br Alban Doyle’s account given in his book on pages 445 – 452 as probably the best. I have reproduced an article written by a Brother at the time as it gives some interesting insights. Unfortunately it is not signed. The handwriting and style points to Br Edwin Farrell, and I think we can be fairly certain it was him.

The Marist Brothers opened a primary school at Harrington St in St Patrick’s parish, Sydney, 8th April of the year 1872. The same year they opened a novitiate locating it in the same building. The fees from the primary school being found insufficient to support its teachers and novices, a High School was opened by the Brothers in the year1 and was located in the Harrington Street property.

In the year 1882 as all state aid was withdrawn in from Catholic schools, the Brothers at the request of Archbishop Vaughan, opened a primary school in St Mary’s Cathedral parish, and similar schools respectively in the parish of the Sacred Heart and the district of St Francis. An administrator only had charge of the St Francis district, consequently the revenues of it were drawn by the Archbishop.

Enclosed are the conditions agreed upon by Archbishop Vaughan and the Superiors of the Marist Brothers for the establishment and maintenance of the schools.

The Superior General of the Little Brothers of Mary engages to supply four Brothers to conduct the St Mary’s R.C. Boys’ School on the following conditions

1 As salary, the Brothers shall receive the School Fees which shall be fixed at sixpence (6d) nine pence (9d) and one shilling (1/-) per week for each child according to classification. Should the school fees not amount to sixty pounds (£60) per annum for each Brother the Board shall make up the deficit. Should the school fees exceed their amount the excess shall be handed over to the Board.

2 To enable the Brothers to meet the expenses of any increase in the teaching Staff consequent on increased attendance, an allowance shall be made to them at the rate of sixty pounds (£60) a year for increase of forty (40) pupils in daily annual attendance.

3 After the first four (4) Brothers it shall be optional to the Superior General to employ Juniors or Brothers two (2) of the former being considered equivalent to one of the latter.

4 The Brothers shall be provided with a dwelling house suitable to Community requirements, free of rates and taxes and shall receive forty pounds (£40) for each Brother to provide furniture. The Brothers shall pay to His Grace the most Reverend Roger Bede Vaughan the RC Archbishop of Sydney or his lawful successor an annual rental of one pound (£1)

5. The usual school expenditure such as furniture, letters, maps, diagrams and other school requirements, and all rates, taxes, and repairs shall be at the expense of the Board.

6. The Superior General or his representative to whom he may delegate this authority – shall have the right of appointing or changing the Brothers whenever he judges it necessary.

7 The Clergyman signing this agreement or his successor in Office shall be responsible for the payments to be made under the above conditions. The Superior General and his representative in the Colony shall be responsible for whatever concerns the Brothers therein.

The settlement of accounts shall take place on the following dates of each year, 31st March, 30th June, 30th

 

 1 Br Edwin left a blank here, in fact the High School was established in 1875.

September, 31st December.

8. The Senior Priest of each district shall alone have the right of granting free admission to pupils.

9. The Brothers shall be paid for a fraction of every forty pupils (as referred to in clause 2) on average daily attendance per quarter at the average rate of fees received during that quarter.

The present number of pupils shall be considered as being one hundred and sixty. (160)

These conditions were observed for five years and during this time there occasionally occurred a surplus derived from the fees paid by the pupils for these schools and this surplus was paid over to the ecclesiastical authorities by the Brothers.

In January 1883, the Marist Brothers , with the consent of the Archbishop changed the “locale” of their Juniorate from St Patrick’s parish to St Mary’s occupying a stone building within the Cathedral grounds known as St Mary’s Seminary. There these Juniors remained until 1906, when His Eminence Cardinal Moran, asked for the removal of these boys stating that he required the building they were occupying for other purposes. These boys were removed to the Brothers’ College at Hunters Hill, occupying a portion of the building.2

In August 1887, Cardinal Moran, who had succeeded Archbishop Vaughan in the See of Sydney, requested that the Brothers’ High School should be transferred from St Patrick’s to St Mary’s Cathedral parish , and be located in a por­tion of a building formally used as a Pro-Cathedral. The Brothers acceded to his request. This transference led to the superseding of the conditions agreed upon in connection with the St Mary’s Cathedral Primary School. In consideration for having a building for their High School and a residence for the Brothers teaching free of rent, the Brothers charged themselves solely with the maintenance of the primary school, receiving as salary only the fees paid by the pupils of it.

As time went on the conditions agreed upon for the Sacred Heart and St Francis Schools became less and less strictly observed especially in the case of the latter school. Owing to it being in a poor locality and among a shifting popula­tion, the fees became very small and the deficit in the Brothers’ salary proportionally great, till the year the school was closed the deficit amounted to over £600. The Cathedral authorities when from year to year they were asked to pay the deficit acknowledged their indebtedness and actually paid small sums of the money. In the year.1910 the New South Wales Government resumed the land and hence the school had to be closed. Though the Government paid the Cathedral authorities the sum of £24000 as compensation, the deficit of the Brothers’ salary was completely ignored.

The 1882 conditions were better observed in the case of the Sacred Heart School, but for some years previously to the Brothers’ severance from it at the close of the school year 1910 there was always a deficit due to the pupils fees being not large enough and this deficit was not made up by Monsignor Carroll the Rector of the parish. So at the close of the year 1910 the fees of St Mary’s primary school had fallen to the low figure of 12/6 per Brother per week, the Brothers teaching in the mentioned schools before were not getting salaries sufficient to keep them.

 

2 From some oral history collected by Br Ray Foster we are fairly sure that the Juniors were accommodated in three stories of the present north west wing of the College.

A photo attached to an article in the Daily Telegrah reporting on the opening of the school at Darlinghurst.

About the beginning of 1910 His Eminence the Cardinal notified the Brothers that he would immediately require the ground upon which their High School stood for other purposes, hence that the site for the school and a residence for the Brothers teaching it should have to be obtained elsewhere. The Brothers found very great difficulty in purchasing a site. Br Victor states that in a conversation with His Eminence as regards a site His Eminence suggested the site on which the High School building now stands, and later in the presence of Br Victor and Denis he admitted that he had made this suggestion. After considerable difficulty the present site was secured and a sum of money was paid over to the agents Messer’s Raine and Horne as part payment of the purchase money.After doing this the Brothers learnt that His Eminence did not approve of the site and consequently they refrained from commencing to build on it. Wishing to meet His Eminence’s wishes they furthermore tried to induce the agents to cancel the agreement made between the latter and the Brothers to purchase the property, even of f ering to forfeit the sum of money a l r e a d y paid. The agents re­fused to do this and informed the Brothers that they would compel them to keep to the agreement. ­

This put the Brothers in a dilemma, and led to a stoppage of proceed­ing for some time, while the Brothers were devising means to get out of their difficulties. In the meantime, on account of a glut of build­ing operations, the cost of building materials and labour rapidly rose about 20%. The Brothers at last resolved to write to His Eminence pointing out their difficulties and he replied giving them a written permission to build on the site, adding, to their surprise that he had never been opposed to it.

Having no money or land the Brothers had now to borrow £11,000 to complete the purchase of the before mentioned site, and to erect a building on it for school purposes and also provide a residence for the Brothers.

3 The present site of course refers to the site that accommodated our former high school at Darlinghurst. A lot of Brothers are under the impression we were ejected from the High school at St Mary’s. This was not the case. We were ejected from the primary school. Through circumstances described in this article this occurred during the period when the High School had already vacated the Cathedral site. At this point the high school classes were dispersed as Br Alban writes in his book, in various locations: St Patrick’s, the Stoneleigh property aided by a play shed costing about $400, two (classes) left at St Mary’s, and some in the Presbyterian Hall in Palmer Street, the Presbyterian authorities generously making it available at a nominal rent of $2 per week. (See pages 447 – 8). The school being constructed at Darlinghurst was meant to be called St Mary’s Cathedral High School. Why this did not happen will become clear later in this article. The Christian Brothers School at the St Mary’s site remained a primary school till 1915. After 1916 there was an Intermediate High school at the Cathedral. It did not become a full high school till 1946.

A photo attached to an article in the Daily Telegrah reporting on the opening of the school at Darlinghurst.

The Brother Provincialand his council as a consequence, now sent a communication to His Eminence the Cardinal and one to Monsignor Carroll of the Sacred Heart parish, pointing out that a new condition of theirs in connection with the two schools had arisen and suggesting that the 1882 conditions should be reverted to. As the cost of living had risen perhaps between 30% and 40% since 1882 it is evident that the Brothers were not too exacting in the suggested conditions.

Monsignor Carroll did not acknowledge the communication, but His Eminence wrote to Br Paul, Provincial, proposing that the suggested conditions should be tried in connec­tion with the Cathedral School for twelve months. The Provincial was in New Zealand when this communication arrived at St Joseph’s College for him and Br Victor5, Director of the College, apprised His Eminence of this and forwarded the communication to the Provincial. About three days after the receipt of His Eminence’s communication, hence some time before such communication could reach New Zealand, Br Victor received a letter from His Eminence informing him that the Brothers’ services in connection with the primary school at St Mary’s would be dispensed with. A few days after this it became public property that the Irish Christian Brothers had taken charge of St Mary’s primary school at the request of His Eminence, and that Monsignor Carroll proposed obtaining lay teachers for the Sacred Heart School. During the last few months of the Brothers stay at St Mary’s Monsignor O’Haran several times hinted to the Brothers that he would have them removed and replaced by the Irish Christian Brothers.

Br Paul of the Cross presumably some years after he was Provincial.

 

When it became public that the Brothers were being dismissed from St Mary’s some individual unknown to the Broth­ers and acting on his own responsibility wrote to the Daily Telegraph complaining of the treatment dealt out to the Brothers by the cathedral authorities. There is internal evidence of this in the account of the interview between Mon­signor O’Haran and a Daily Telegraph reporter. Without publishing this letter a Daily Telegraph reporter interviewed Monsignor O’Haran, in regards to the Brothers’ dismissal and Monsignor charged the Brothers with commercialism in connection with it.

An account of the interview was published in the columns of the next issue of the Daily Telegraph, and on the afternoon of that day Br Victor was rung up from the office of the Daily Telegraph and asked whether he desired to make a state­ment in connection with the matter. After consultation of the principal Brothers of the house he informed the Daily Telegraph authorities that he would make no statements. Being informed that there were several letters in the Broth­ers’ favour lying at the office awaiting publication Br Victor expressed his disapproval of their publication. The same day Br Victor assembled the Brothers of the house, by far the larg­est we have in the Commonwealth and directed them to preserve silence under the accusation and not to com­municate the matter to any extern for the purpose of publication.

Stoneleigh, the Brothers’ residence used to accommodate some of the St Mary’s High School clsses in 1910. This photo is undated probably taken long after these events

 

Two (three?) days after the publication of the before-mentioned interview, there appeared in the columns of the Daily Telegraph an account of an interview by the same reporter, with a Marist Brother. The local superiors of the Marist Broth­ers made several unsuccessful efforts to obtain the name of this Marist Brother but signally failed. Several suspected Brothers denied having been interviewed when questioned by the Brother Provincial. On the Provincial’s return to Sydney, which took place after several letters had appeared, he forbade the Brothers to furnish any informa­tion to externs for publication. The Brothers are under the impression that the person interviewed was with a Marist Brother. Even were he such, he acted against the expressed with and command of his Superior by declaring matter for publication.

 

4 The provincial at the time was Br Paul of the Cross, Clarke, a New Zealander recruited by Br Ludovic.

5 Br Victor Ludeke

This photo was taken by Br Alban Doyle in October 1963.It shows the Palmer Street Presbyterian Hall used by Marist Brothers High School students from September 1910 to April 1911 when the High School had to vacate the St Mary’s grounds. The details of this are described in this article by Br Edwin Farrell.

 

This alleged Brother stated that the Cathedral authorities wished to get rid of the Marist Brothers because the latter were not an Irish order. A series of anonymous letters all in favour of the Brothers now appeared in successive issues of the Daily Tele­graph. The local superiors of the Marist Brothers requested the editor several times to discontinue publication of these letters, but without success. After a number of letters had appeared His Eminence wrote to the Provincial threatening to take strong measures unless the publication of the letters should be discontinued before the following Sunday.

St Mary’s Cathedral

Sydney

30th January 1911

My dear Br Paul

My attention has been called to a voluminous correspondence regarding your Brothers’ departure from St Mary’s parochial school, which has been appearing in the Daily Telegraph for the past fortnight some of the letters being sponsored by Marist Brothers. I have learnt today that moreover some parties have been using their endeavours to prevent the boys from attending at St Mary’s School. I will have to take very strong measures to put an end to this scandal unless this annoyance ceases before next Sunday. I fear that the whole exhibition speaks very badly for the education imparted by the Brothers.

Yours faithfully

Patrick Cardinal Moran

Archbishop of Sydney

As the Br Provincial had previously done all he could to secure discontinuances he made no fresh effort, but replied to His Eminence expressing his regrets and disapproval of the public correspondence and asking His Eminence to suggest some means of securing discontinuance. His Eminence did not reply to this letter.

Here is the reply that the Br Provincial sent to His Eminence on the following day.

St Joseph’s College

31st January

To His Eminence P F Moran

My Lord Cardinal

Your Eminence’s letter to just to hand

I deeply regret the uncalled for and most damaging correspondence that has been carried out in the Daily Telegraph and I can assure your Eminence that I have taken every possible means to stop it but without avail.

I personally forbade the Brothers to write or to furnish anyone with information for publication.

We refused from the beginning to make any statement; we have written to the Editors and called on them personally to ask them not to publish those letters

The editors have refused to reveal any names or give any clue as to those who gave the information.

We have forbidden the use of our schools for meetings in reference to the matter.

I early took precaution to forbid the Brothers to interfere with the children of St Mary’s parish in regard to their future movements.

We fail to see what further we could do, unless Your Eminence has some suggestions to make.

I have the honour to be Your Eminence’s humble servant

Br Paul

As a matter of fact the publication of letters discontinued after receipt of His Eminence’s communication, the Broth­ers do not know why. This synchronising may have given colour to the view that the Brothers were responsible for the correspondence.

On Sunday, the limit day appointed by His Eminence, the various Catholic societies of men belonging to the Jesuit parish of North Sydney took part in a communion breakfast at which, among other toasts, that of the Marist Broth­ers was proposed. Several speakers eulogised their work and one speaker made some reference the troubled relations between His Eminence and the Brothers. As none of the Brothers were present what he said is not exactly known to them. On the Tuesday following some unknown gentleman was interviewed by a Daily Telegraph reporter and then the publicity recommenced. A day or two after His Eminence was interviewed on the matter and he in­formed the reporter that the Brothers were dismissed for incompetency and that all that had been written in their favour in the columns of the Daily Telegraph were false. This is the substance of his remarks. These statements led to further publication of letters in two succeeding days, the last one appearing in a Saturday issue of the Daily Telegraph. On the following Sun­day Br Victor, the Br Provincial’s representative, the latter being away, sent a letter to the editor of the Daily Telegraph publicly disclaiming any connection with the letter that had appeared in their favour dur­ing the whole controversy.

An undated but very early photo of the back of the High School and also the Brothers’ residence at Darlinghurst.

 

The editor promised to insert the letter in the following day’s paper – Monday. The letter did not appear on the Monday, why, the Brothers could not ascertain though having made inquiry, but it did appear in the Tuesday‘s issue in a slightly mutilated form. (Here is a copy of the letter with the words omitted by a red circular line.)6

6 These words have been underlined.

To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph

Dear Sir

On behalf of the Marist Brothers, I, in the absence of the Rev Br. Provincial, desire to make a public disclaimer of their connection with the correspondence that has recently appeared in your paper on the above mentioned matter.

Realising that, as educators of youth, they are bound to inculcate respect for authority and submission to it, they have been exceedingly pained by the tenor of the correspondence; at no time had it their sanction or approval; as a matter of fact, they are entirely ignorant as to the identity of the correspondents.

As you are aware I declined to be interviewed as to the above mentioned matter, and furthermore, several requests were made to you by the Brothers to discontinue the publication of the correspondence.

By their public disclaimer, they desire to remove any wrong impression that may exit as to their approval in any way, of the correspondence or identification with the writers of the letters

Br Victor

On the same day as this letter was published a letter directed to Br Provincial was sent by His Eminence. The letter was forwarded on to the Provincial who was then South Australia. In this letter His Eminence stated that from information he had received things were not going too satisfactorily at our High School at Darlinghurst, and hence he withdrew all patronage, sanction and approval of it and that consequently the school was not to retain the title St Mary’s High School. The Provincial replied asking His Eminence to be good enough to state definitely what there was unsatisfac­tory, in order that he, the Provincial might remedy it. No answer to this was received.

(Copies of the two letters are produced below: These were not included in Br Edwin’s article)

St Mary’s Cathedral

Sydney14th Feb 1911

My dear Br Provincial,

From the information which I have received, I fear that matters at your High School, Darlinghurst, are not proceeding in a satisfactory manner. I deem it a duty to withdraw from the said High School all patronage, sanction and approval, I may have hitherto extended to it. Of course it can no longer assume the title of St Mary’s High School

Your faithful servant

Patrick Fr. Moran

Archbishop of Sydney

The Br Provincial replied as follows;

My Lord Cardinal

Your Eminence’s letter of the 14th instant just to hand.

I regret to hear from your Eminence that matters are not proceeding to your Eminence’s satisfaction at the High School and that you deem it necessary to withdraw your patronage as graciously given in the past.

Would you Eminence kindly point out what is unsatisfactory in the High School so that a remedy may be applied.

Your Eminence’s obedient servant

Br Paul, Provincial

His Eminence did not reply to this note.

The Marist Brothers began teaching in Australia 1872 (39 years ago). After 39 years labour in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands the Brothers had accumulated no money, they have had to borrow the money to build their High School by mortgaging their Hunters Hill property. They state that during these 39 years, with the exception of two or three insignificant sums of money they have supported themselves by their own labours, without asking sub­scriptions from the Catholic public. The lack of money has not been caused by extravagant living, for the members of the Brotherhood have always been distinguished and unostentatious life. At the present time the cost of living in the Commonwealth is higher than it ever was before but despite this the remarkably moderate fees charged in their colleges and High School have not been raised. They have now a number of men among them that have grown old in the work if the Institute and that must now be supported by it.

They derive scarcely any revenue from their Juniors and Novices, hence the cost of supporting these is to be borne by the Institute. Furthermore they have now to provide for a heavy additional expenditure for they must give all or nearly all their members a University education. This means these members shall have to spend a considerable amount of time qualifying themselves for their work, a time during which, that can bring in no revenues and that have to pay heavy fees to Universities.

The Brothers themselves are much disturbed in mind by the treatment they have received from the Cathedral authorities, they are especially impressed by the fact that Monsignor O’Haran has never shown sympathy with their work, but, on the contrary well –marked hostility. They are of opinion that this treat­ment is a direct discouragement of vocations to the religious Teaching Brotherhoods. A criterion of the confidence that the Catholic public has in the disinterestedness and competence of the Marist Brothers as teachers is that larger numbers than ever are now attending their schools. The High School, though at present working under very adverse condi­tions, the students being accommodated in two rather widely separated localities one of these being very unsuitable for a school of such class, has a record number of students. St Patrick’s and North Sydney School have a remarkable increase in their numbers, and the numbers at St Benedict’s school have also increased. St Mary’s High school within the last ten years has sent ? to St Patrick’s Ecclesiastical College at Manly.

His Eminence did not reply to this note.

The Marist Brothers began teaching in Australia 1872 (39 years ago). After 39 years labour in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands the Brothers had accumulated no money, they have had to borrow the money to build their High School by mortgaging their Hunters Hill property. They state that during these 39 years, with the exception of two or three insignificant sums of money they have supported themselves by their own labours, without asking sub­scriptions from the Catholic public. The lack of money has not been caused by extravagant living, for the members of the Brotherhood have always been distinguished and unostentatious life. At the present time the cost of living in the Commonwealth is higher than it ever was before but despite this the remarkably moderate fees charged in their colleges and High School have not been raised. They have now a number of men among them that have grown old in the work if the Institute and that must now be supported by it.

They derive scarcely any revenue from their Juniors and Novices, hence the cost of supporting these is to be borne by the Institute. Furthermore they have now to provide for a heavy additional expenditure for they must give all or nearly all their members a University education. This means these members shall have to spend a considerable amount of time qualifying themselves for their work, a time during which, that can bring in no revenues and that have to pay heavy fees to Universities.

The Brothers themselves are much disturbed in mind by the treatment they have received from the Cathedral authorities, they are especially impressed by the fact that Monsignor O’Haran has never shown sympathy with their work, but, on the contrary well –marked hostility. They are of opinion that this treat­ment is a direct discouragement of vocations to the religious Teaching Brotherhoods. A criterion of the confidence that the Catholic public has in the disinterestedness and competence of the Marist Brothers as teachers is that larger numbers than ever are now attending their schools. The High School, though at present working under very adverse condi­tions, the students being accommodated in two rather widely separated localities one of these being very unsuitable for a school of such class, has a record number of students. St Patrick’s and North Sydney School have a remarkable increase in their numbers, and the numbers at St Benedict’s school have also increased. St Mary’s High school within the last ten years has sent ? to St Patrick’s Ecclesiastical College at Manly.

Br Sebastian’s case

About the middle of last November His Eminence wrote a letter to the Br Provincial stating that some of the Brothers in Sydney were guilty of Modernism; he especially named Br Sebastian and requested the Pro­vincial to remove him to some other sphere of labour, threatening that if his request should not be complied with he would put all St Joseph’s College under an interdict. His Eminence gave no specific instance of what he considered to be Modernism.

At the time Br Sebastian resided at the Brother’s residence within the Cathedral grounds and had done very efficient teaching at the Brother’s High School. Though no attempt was made to prove the charge of Modern­ism Br Provincial was desirous of conforming to His Eminence’s wishes. But not clearly understanding what His Eminence meant by another sphere of labour he deputed Br Victor and Br Denis to interview His Eminence for the purpose of getting an explanation. His Eminence on hearing the nature of their visit to him simply repeated the threat of interdictum and abruptly left the room. At very great inconvenience the Br Provincial then removed Br Sebastian to Mittagong a place 78 miles distant from Sydney and where Br Sebastian could render the Institute no service as a teacher.7

It is worthy of remark that St Mary’s school is the only one in the Archdiocese from which Brothers have been removed by request of the Ecclesiastical authorities…

Br Edwird Farrell. Br Edwin was the first Australian Marist Brother to complete his novitiate and die as a Brother. He had a keen sense of history. He wrote a history of the Australian Province. He also kept extensive diaries which we still hold. He is almost certainly the author of this article.

This is the completion of Br Edwin’s article. We publish below two of the famous letters to the editor in the Telegraph to give our readers a flavour of them. The first is very much against the protesters the second signed “Cerise and Blue” is appropriately pro Marist.

The Marist Brothers’ trouble

Sir

We must thank “Tipperary Man from the Devil’s Bit” for his fearless and able letter in English, Latin and French, all of which is material in the Tipperary stone- thrower’s hands against the old man in the tower. The letter proves that its author is learned, able to quote, and Heaven know, perhaps to speak three different languages. I beg the public to take note of that; some may be able to find out where the Devil’s Bit is, and what notorious person has left it during the last generation. I am nearly tempted to place myself at his disposition to converse with him in French, in Latin, and in a couple more of languages; but I rather abstain. You never know what may turn up. His knowledge of history is very great, too, for he can tell us that Colonel M’Mahon once said, in the Crimean war: “J’y suis. J’y reste.” This must take an impression on the Cardinal and he may repent and call his late school staff back. We owe special thanks also to the same “Devil’s Bit of a Catholic” for having reminded us that a bishop, when making personal changes on his premises, does not act under the impulse of papal infallibility. Thanks ever so much for the enlightenment. It is exactly what Lily O’Brien learns in her Catechism. The truth must be told, and he has told us an old truth. Best of all, I like the title of his letter: “Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat” in English, “When a fish rots, it begins on the head.” This quotation shows erudition. It shows brain power, In fact, it shows and proves to a conclusion that “Australian Eviction,” “Fairplay,” “Ex-Student,” “Maristonian,””Another Observer,” but, above all, Tippererary man, are in a typhoon, passing over the sea without changing the policy of the old man in the tower. Whirlwinds are grand things. I once saw one; it went up, and it went down again.

In finishing my letter, I wish all my friends a happy New Year, good health at every change of moon, an increasing knowledge of what is their own business, and a profound understanding of the Gospel’s saying “Be subject to your bishops;” “Be not wise in your own council.”

Yours etc Observer

7 Br Sebastian Hayden spent most of the rest of his life teaching at Kilmore and Bendigo. He is a very interesting man. .He was the original Brother requested by Br Andrew to write a history of the Marist Brothers in Australia. I suspect a lot of the documents we now hold in our archives were collected by him, and later used by Br Alban in his book. He carried on a huge correspondence with many Brothers all over Australia. Fortunately most of his letters have been preserved. They give us an interesting insight into Marist life in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.

 

January 27

Sir,

Allow me space to reply to the seven articles of “Observer”.

1. Observer remarks: The thing is done and will not be undone. Certainly the thing is done, but surely it can be undone, and if there is such a thing as justice on one side of a feeling of good brotherhood on the other, it shall be undone.

2. “Observor” goes on to say “It was extremely bad taste to write while the Bishops were in conference”. I think it showed extremely good judgement , for the Bishops were here to discuss matters appertaining to our schools , and within a stone’s throw from their place of meeting there was the vacated house and school of the Marist Brothers, a silent but yet a powerful voice calling on the assembly for justice. “Observer “remarks that the ex-students of the Marists came out against their Bishop. I might remind Observer that their Bishop’s name was not mentioned in the discussion, and I might add that, did it depend on their Bishop alone the Marist Brothers would still be at St Mary’s. We, the ex-students, know too well the esteem the Cardinal has for the Marists. Time after time, both in public and private he has shown this.

3 The letter continues “we do not know the other side of the question.” No, but if we did could we get the cor­respondence between the authorities and Dr. Murphy of Newton, and between the same and the Christian Brothers, we would have the other side then.

5. Again he says; “we do not know the motives of our Bishop.” Did “Observer” read the interview between your reporter and Right Rev. Monsignor O’Haran? If he did surely he must know the reason why the Marists were put out of St Mary’s. The reason given was because they were not religious but commercial agents.

6. Is it not right the Christian Brothers should have a city school? Certainly. But is it right, Observer to take that school from the Marists? Is it right for the Christian Brothers to close Newtown school simply for the reason of ousting the Marists from St Mary’s? Will the Marists take Newtown? Let “Observer” answer these questions.

7 Regarding the correspondence, let “Observer” prove his charge,

In conclusion just a word to my old masters. Never fear: this storm will pass away. Remember you have the sympathy of thousands of Australian Catholics. Remember your High School opened on Monday with 150 present. This is the reply of the Catholics, and when you leave the friendly shelter of the hall on Palmer Street to take possession of the magnificent school you are building on Darlinghurst Heights do not forget those who stood by you in the hour of need.

Yours etc

Cerise and Blue

January 27

(N.B Cerise and Blue’s fourth point seems to have been lost in the dust of history Ed8.)

8 Ed here is the then editor of the Daily Telegraph., not to be confused with the editor of this worthy journal.

 

MBHS Darlinghurst Old Boys’ Union acknowledges this extract to be courtesy of “Marist Seasons Summer”.