From the Archives

This photo was taken in our Memorabilia Room at Barrack Street in 1983 when James Aloysius Mitchell visited with daughter Helen and James Jnr.

Br Trevor Parton, Principal (’78-’84), was very interested in archival material and during his time organised a big drive to rescue and gather information.

When James A. returned to Mackay, he settled on the presentation of ten foolscap pages (in meticulous copperplate handwriting) of very interesting information pre-1920. James attended St Mary’s Boys School (where his father Patrick Thomas Aloysius Mitchell had been in charge since 1893) from 1901 to 1910. The Christian Brothers built this school in 1922 to form St Virgil’s Junior School. In 1939 it became St Peter’s and now, in almost a full circle, it is St Virgil’s College Junior School again (1996). When SVC Barrack Street opened in 1911, James was due to continue his studies there in the Junior Public Class. Unfortunately, he was quite ill for several months, and James was entered in the school register as student number 165, sometime after the first-day start. James left “Saints on the Hill” in 1912, and his life’s journey is covered in the following article, kindly and speedily forwarded to me by Ms Jodie Ringuet of the Mackay Daily Mercury.

“DIGGER LOSES FINAL BATTLE – JIM MITCHELL”

Mackay district’s last World War I veteran Jim Mitchell has died aged 100. Mr Mitchell had celebrated his 100th birthday six months ago. Son-in-law Denis Foster said Mr Mitchell was in good health until Anzac Day this year.

A requiem Mass will be held at St Francis Xavier Catholic church in West Mackay on Friday at 2 pm, and the funeral will move to Mt Bassett where he will be buried alongside his wife Alice, who died on Anzac Day 1976.

James Aloysius Mitchell was born in Hobart on February 9, 1896, and enlisted in the Infantry in 1915. Service in Egypt and England was followed by battles in Northern France and the Somme, resulting in his post-war hospitalization for almost two years. He had entered the auditor general’s office in Hobart before World War I and returned after his war service. He later served in the same department in Canberra where he was chief auditor in the 1950s. He spent seven years in the Department of Post-war Reconstruction, his time divided between Brisbane and Hobart, after World War II. Although Mr Mitchell retired in 1961, he retained his interest in public administration, finance, and the Australian constitution. He became a Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Public Accountants in the 1920s and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Public Administration Australia in about 1950. He was a member of the HR Nicholls Society. After his retirement, Mr. Mitchell and his late wife Alice moved to Mackay to join their children Helen Foster and James and Alexander Mitchell. He was a member of the Mackay Chamber of Commerce when Henry Taylor was president. Mr Mitchell was a former captain of the Royal Hobart Golf Club, which initiated the annual J. A. Mitchell Centenarian Trophy played close to his birth date on 9 February. He received a Papal blessing during the month of his 100th birthday at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church.