The site of the current parish of St Patrick’s Church Mortlake was first purchased by the Archdiocese of Sydney in July 1889 at the encouragement of Dean Callaghan McCarthy; who was Parish Priest of St Mary’s Concord.
Officially opening in 1895, the church was built to service the needs of all Catholic families in Mortlake, Breakfast Point and Cabarita. Since its opening, St Patrick’s Catholic Parish has grown into a vibrant parish with weekly Mass for the increasing Catholic population in the area.
The original school was founded in 1896 to educate the Irish worker’s children. It later closed and re-opened in 1917 and closed permanently in 1963. The school was supported by the Sisters of Charity who came from St Mary’s Concord each day to educate the children. Some historical school registers still exist that show inspector reports on the school over the years.
The charity values of love, justice, compassion and hope will underpin the new school Vision and Mission as well as acknowledging the traditional owners of the precious land, the Wangal people of the Eora Nation.
The school moved into the new building in 2018, with architecturally designed spaces to capture natural light, space and ventilation. It was wonderful for the children to watch their school rise from the earth into the new modern, spacious structure, that they now enjoy.