The Founding of St Michael's Collegiate School
Founders' Day Celebration Service 2007
Collegiate was 115 years old last Wednesday. It was founded on 3 October 1892 by the Sisters of the Church who sailed to Hobart from England earlier in that year, 1892. Why did they come to Hobart, why did they set up a school and where did it all begin?
The story of Collegiate and its roots really lies in the history of its founders, the Sisters of the Church, and in particular Emily Ayckbowm who founded that order of Anglican nuns in 1870.
Emily Ayckbowm
I would like to take you back to the 1850s in England. Emily Ayckbowm was about 14 then and she spent her childhood in Chester in England where her father was the vicar of Holy Trinity. She disliked the inequality between the poor and rich in her father's parish. The discrimination was visible; the rich sat in comfortable pews at the front of the Church and the poor sat on benches at the back. The squalor, vice and destitution, in which the poor lived, troubled Emily Ayckbowm. Ignorance, poverty, lack of education, unemployment and the inequalities between the rich and the poor, all weighed upon her spirit and her whole life was to be a continual fight to reform them.
She clearly believed that an individual could make a difference and she did. In 1864, at the age of 28, she began the Church Extension Association, fondly known as the CEA. The work of the CEA was impressive and did what any good charity organisation does now. Collected and distributed second-hand clothing to the poor and needy, sold donated items to make money to help the poor. Church needlework and altar linen were made by the members and distributed to needy parishes and also sold to make more money. Volunteer work was done in hospitals by members including Emily herself.
In 1868 she moved to London. The CEA had a Depot in London and Emily also established one at Kilburn; now the centre is at Ham Common near Richmond. It was in London that she set the motto for the CEA - Pro Ecclesia Dei - for the Church of God - and this later became the motto of the Community of the Sisters of the Church and the motto of the schools like ours formed by the sisters.
It was also in London that Emily opened the first of her famous bun schools; Emily believed that hungry children must be fed first and taught afterwards. Children were given a currant bun and hot tea before School. At Collegiate we remember these bun schools when we traditionally have a cream bun on St Michael's day. It was through the bun schools that children, who would not have had the opportunity of education, were given the chance to learn to read and write and to be given love and care.
This one woman did make a difference.
Sisters of the Church
Emily Ackbowm could have joined a number of different orders of sisters but she firmly believed that God was calling her to start a new Community devoted to the Service of God and the spread of His Church, especially by the teaching and training of children. On 5 April 1870 she received the religious habit from the Reverend Kirkpatrick, vicar of the parish of St Augustine in Kilburn, and founded the Community of the Sisters of the Church. She wrote the rule of the sisters: The sisters shall consider the call to instruct the ignorant, feed the hungry and tend the poor and suffering as a precious opportunity of showing forth their love to Jesus Christ and serving Him. She put her Community under the patronage of St Michael and his Angels and established 29 September as the Patronal Feast of the Community.
The focus of the work of the sisters was education and Sister Emily's concern for poor children, orphans and schools is truly remarkable. She founded many orphanages and schools in England and when it was obvious that teachers needed training she formed the Church Teachers Union which offered retreats, quiet days and conferences to help teachers. She then set out to set up schools in other parts of the world including Canada, India, Burma, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. This one woman did make a difference.
How did Collegiate eventuate?
Where did Collegiate fit into this picture? It was Dean Dundas, Dean of Hobart, who proposed in the synod of 1887 that a sisterhood should undertake women's work in the Diocese of Hobart. The idea of having nuns in the Church was not supported by some; nevertheless it was agreed to establish a sisterhood in Hobart to assist in nursing, education and penitentiary work.
Bishop Montgomery wrote to Mother Emily expressing the need for sisters in Hobart and requesting her help. Emily responded in 1892 by sending 7 Sisters, Sisters May, Lucy, Hannah, Irene, Phyllis, Bridget and Rose as well as 5 orphans. The party of 12 left Kilburn for Hobart sailing on the steam ship named the Coptic. The sisters were greeted by Dean Dundas and the mayor and put up initially in the Dean's residence.
The sisters were keen to establish a school. There wasn't the same need for a bun school as there had been in England, but they saw that Christian educational work was most needed in Tasmania. And so Collegiate was developed as a Church of England school that was highly motivated towards academic success. Although it was coeducational in the primary school, it was particularly aimed at girls' education; offering a complete education for girls including languages, mathematics, science and sport with a strong cultural and environmental emphasis.
The school began at St David's with Sister Hannah as Head Mistress and Sister Phyllis in charge of the infants. In 1895 the sisters moved the school to the current site at Stephenville and Sister Phyllis took over as Head Mistress. At this time Collegiate started to take in boarders. The School began with 5 girls and 7 infants and although it grew slowly initially by 1905 there were 104 students with 26 boarders.
I am sure that the sisters would be amazed at the development of Collegiate over the past 115 years; educationally, in size and in its facilities. I am also sure that they would be delighted that we celebrate their Founders' Day with this service at St David's Cathedral.
Robyn Kronenberg, Principal
5 October 2007