Marist College Canberra

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Marist College Canberra
Location
Pearce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia
Coordinates	35°21′35″S 149°05′20″E / 35.3597°S 149.0889°E / -35.3597; 149.0889
Information
Type	Independent primary and secondary day school
Motto	Latin: Servo Fidem (I keep the Faith)
Religious affiliation(s)	Association of Marist Schools of Australia
Denomination	Catholic
Established	1968; 56 years ago (1968)
Founder	Marist Brothers
Headmaster	Matthew Hutchison
Deputy Headmaster	Liam Stakelum
Dean of Studies	Rohit Bhatnagar
Years	4–12
Gender	Boys
Enrolment	Approx. 1,770
Area	15 hectares (37 acres)
Colour(s)	Blue and light-blue
Song	Great Man of God
Newspaper	Maristian
Yearbook	Blue and Blue
Affiliation	Associated Southern Colleges
Website	www.maristc.act.edu.au

Marist College Canberra is an independent Roman Catholic primary and secondary day school for boys, founded in 1968 by the Marist Brothers. The college is situated on 15 hectares (37 acres) and located in the Canberra suburb of Pearce, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The college is a member of the Association of Marist Schools of Australia (AMSA) and the Associated Southern Colleges (ASC).

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The origins of MCC are to be found at The Rocks, Sydney. There, in 1875, only three years after the foundation of the first MCC school in Australia, the Brothers began a select school or high school with Brother Augustine McDonald as its first principal.

In 1887, the secondary school transferred to the eastern side of St Mary's Cathedral, since this was a more central location and provided more space. By 1910 however, the school premises were run down and this fact and other difficulties led the Marist Brothers to construct new buildings on the heights of Darlinghurst, and "The High School" as it was commonly known, transferred there. Both at the Cathedral and at Darlinghurst. By the 1960s, demographics threatened the future of the school at Darlinghurst, while at the same time Canberra was burgeoning had few Catholic schools. So the decision was taken to sell the property and to use the proceeds to transfer the school to Canberra.^[1]

Marist College Canberra opened in 1968 with primary classes whilst construction of the secondary school building was still being completed. The first senior classes commenced in 1971. The first graduating class was in 1975.

Between 1976 and 1993 a teacher at Marist College, Brother Kosta Chute, sexually molested at least 39 students. The school investigated the first complaints concerning Chute's conduct internally, and permitted him to continue teaching. He was not removed from teaching duties until late 1993 when parents of one of his students complained to the ACT government. Chute was jailed in 2010 after being convicted on 19 counts of child sexual abuse.^[2] As of 2014 Marist College had paid almost $7 million in compensation to 38 former students who had been abused by Chute during his time at the school.^[3] In December 2015 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that the Marist Brothers had been aware of the allegations against Chute since the 1960s, but continued to transfer him between schools. It also noted that another teacher at Marist College, Brother Gregory Sutton, had molested students at the school during the early 1980s leading to eight compensation payments, but found that there was no evidence that either the Marist Brothers or the school had received allegations concerning Sutton during this period.^[4][5]

The Canberra Marist Brothers community was disbanded at the end of 2015. This did not affect the governance of the school, as it is now staffed by lay teachers and a lay principal.^[6]

Period	Details
1968–1970	Brother Crispin
1971–1973	Brother Mark May
1974–1974	Brother Othmar Weldon
1975–1982	Brother Joseph McMahon
1983–1988	Brother Terrence Heinrich
1989–1990	Brother Roger Burke
1991–1992	Brother David Hayes
1993–2000	Brother Chris Wade
2001–2005	Ross Tarlinton
2006–2017	Richard Sidorko
2018–present	Matthew Hutchison

In November 2017, Brother Wade was sentenced to 18 months in prison, having been found guilty of previously abusing students at schools in Hamilton (1976) and Kogarah (1980).^[7]

The school's house system was implemented in 1986 from a year group system. Each house developed their own crest and motto. The original six houses were Conway, Crispin, Darlinghurst, Mark, Othmar, Patrick. In 1988, two further houses, Haydon and McMahon, were added to reduce house size.In 2008 The House group system was implemented removing tutor groups and having boys from years 7 to 12 In a house group . Early in 2016, Othmar House was renamed Lavalla House. This change of name was requested by the school community, following adverse findings by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse of Brother Othmar's handling of the abuse of students at another school. In July 2023 Crispin House was renamed to François House. In 2024 2 new houses were added Le Rosey and Ludovic.

The Champagnat Cup was introduced by the graduating year of 2005. The cup is presented to the house that proves to have respectively won overall in an array of house competitions. These competitions include athletics, swimming and cross country carnivals, academic performance, community service hours, and walkathon collection total

Marist is a member school of the Associated Southern Colleges (ASC). The college competes against other schools in this competition in a number of different sports, including Australian Rules Football, hockey, athletics, cricket, rugby, swimming and cross country.

Former students of Marist College, Canberra are known as "Old Boys".

[Year 1975] is the last year of school attendance. (Years in parentheses) are years lived or the year of notable achievement. Chronology is determined (as far as is known) by alumnus' last year at the College.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

• David Smith [1987] – ALP MLA for Bean
• Daniel Mulino [1987] – ALP MLA for Fraser
• Brendan Michael Smyth [1977] – former Liberal ACT MLA for Brindabella
• Jayson Hinder [1983] (1965-2017) - former Labor ACT MLA for Ginninderra
• Andrew Wall [2002] – former Liberal ACT MLA for Brindabella

• John Caligari [1978] - Lt. General AO, DSC, Military Officer

• Chris Uhlmann [1978] - journalist and presenter
• Paul McDermott [1980] – comedian, actor, writer, director, singer, artist and television personality.
• Patrick Brammall [1993] – comedian, actor, writer
• Andy Trieu [2002] - presenter and actor
• Conor Simpson [2012] - Irish Dancing

• Geoff Didier [1976] – Rugby Union - Australia
• Luis Val [1977] - Judo / Olympian - Australia
• Robert Egerton [1980] - Rugby Union - Australia
• Robert Ball [1982] - Judo / Olympian
• Andrew Deane [1984] - Hockey - Australia / Olympian
• Matt O'Connor [1988] – Rugby Union - Australia
• Steven Hill [1988] - Judo / Olympian - Australia
• Dean Zammit [1989] - Rugby Union - Malta
• Tom Hill [1992] - Judo / Olympian - Australia
• Joe Roff [1993] – Rugby Union - Australia
• Simon Thompson [1995] - Triathlon /Olympian - Australia
• Lindsay Wilson [1997] - Football - Australia
• Craig Bolton [1998] – AFL - All Australian
• Kial Stewart OAM [2001] - Cycling / Paraolympian - Australia
• Stephen Howard [2002] - Rugby League USA
• Daniel Hotchkis [2003] - Hockey -Australia
• Patrick Mills [2004] – National Basketball League, Basketball - Australia / Olympian
• Daniel Howard [2004] - Rugby League USA
• Tetera Faulkner [2006] – Rugby Union - Australia
• Toby L'Estrange [2006] – Rugby Union - USA
• Josh Dugan [2006] – Rugby League Australia
• Nathan Haas [2007] - Cycling - Australia
• Joe Powell [2012] – Rugby Union - Australia

• Nick Scrivener [1988] - Former ACT Brumby player and later professional rugby coach
• Chris Thomson [2003] - Former professional player and current Wallabies team Manager

9 Old Boys have played at VFL/AFL level.^{[citation needed]} Below are some of the more commonly known or contemporary examples;

• Adrian Barich [1980] - West Coast Eagles (later television sports presenter)
• Phil Davis [unk] – GWS
• Tom Green [2018] – GWS
• Tom Highmore [2016] – St Kilda

49 Old Boys are known to have represented in Rugby Union at state level.^{[citation needed]} The following are some contemporary examples;

• Julian Salvi [2003] – ACT Brumbies
• Chris Thomson [2003] - NSW Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels
• Anthony Hegarty [2005] - ACT Brumbies
• Michael Hodge [2008] - Australia 7's and NSW Waratahs
• Phoenix Battye [2009] - Western Force
• Tom Cusack [2011] - ACT Brumbies, Australia 7's
• Rory Scott [2018] - ACT Brumbies, Australia A
• Liam Bowron [2020] - ACT Brumbies

• Lincoln Withers NRL
• Bailey Simonsson – NRL and NZ 7's Rugby Union

• List of schools in the Australian Capital Territory

• Marist College Canberra