From The Archives 

Only months after the school opened in August 1904, permission was granted to accept boarders from the beginning of the 1905 school year.

Among these first boarders, whose names are inscribed in the original register, were the Lucas sisters, Irene, Nina, Sophea and Marea. They were the daughters of Anthony Lucas (Lekatsas), the proprietor of the Town Hall Café in Swanston Street Melbourne, later the Greek Consul General of Australia. As it was not until later that he purchased the Toorak mansion Whernside and later still Yamala on Oliver’s Hill, the café was not deemed an appropriate place to raise his daughters and they were sent to the newly opened Brigidine Convent Mentone.

The Lucas girls and a few others slept in a dormitory which is now Room 5, a staff office, which was  known as the ‘pink dormitory’. When the numbers of boarders and day pupils increased in the 20s, the Colonnade building, called ‘St Benedict’s Wing’ was added. The top floor was a dormitory and the bottom comprised four classrooms. This image shows one end of this dormitory as it was in the 1930s.

This photo was taken in what is now Room 1. At the end of this large dormitory which included what now comprises Rooms 1-4, were numerous washbasins with mirrors where the boarders cleaned their teeth and readied themselves for the day, as well as toilets and originally just one bath. By the mid 60s, when the boarders’ numbers had increased to about 65, a few more baths had been added.

The boarders spent all day in their uniforms, including weekends and usually only brought with them one other dress for special occasions. They were treated in Summer to walks to the beach and a swim at Mentone Baths and in the early years, would be accompanied by a couple of the nuns to walk up to the Convent Farm on Nepean Highway where Bunnings now stands.

By the late 1970s, moves were afoot to turn the convent building into classrooms and the number of boarders declined, with only a few senior girls who wished to complete their schooling here, staying on to the end. By August 1981, the nuns had left too, moving in to smaller communities in Mentone and surrounding suburbs.

Damian Smith

Archives