St Mary's School
Cnr Pope Street and Collins Street HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire
St Ronan's Precinct Hamilton
Statement of Significance
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
St Mary's School (formerly the Academy) Corner Pope & Collins Street This building has local significance for its architectural interest and for its historical importance as a major educational institution in the Hamilton district during the last century when it became a serious rival to the notable Hamilton and Western District Boys' College founded in 1871. The earliest section of the Academy dates from 1874 with additions in 1882 when it was reopened. (i)
The founder of the Academy was James Begg (1842-1911), a Scot educated at Glasgow University who had the support of leading Hamiltonians such as G H Mott and W Skene. By 1890 the Academy was the largest of Hamilton's three private colleges and was recognised for its high educational standard. Its success was relatively brief for it closed in 1900, the building becoming a private residence which, in 1905, was taken over by the Loreto Sisters as a convent and convent school. In 1925 it became known as St Mary's. (ii)
The building is of interest architecturally for its use of the Gothic Revival style, considered appropriate for scholastic buildings because of traditional associations between education and the Church, and for its use of polychrome brickwork, an important material in the style. Polychromy was all the rage in Melbourne at the time but this is a relatively subdued example. The building is significantly intact and is in excellent condition. It is an important element in the St Ronan's streetscape, especially for its domestic scale and detailing.
SIGNIFICANCE: One of the more important schools in the district and associated with significant people. Of special interest for its rare use of polychrome brickwork.
FOOTNOTES
i Garden, Don, Hamilton, pp 89-90; Hamilton Spectator, 13 April 1882, 11 November 1882.
ii Ibid and Garden, p 152; Australasian, 14 April 1906 (illustration).
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MECHANICS INSTITUTE
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