No. 1623 - Lymington - St Patrick's Convent School (1900)

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This article is one of a series about buildings associated with Tasmania’s historical churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and rarely feature in published histories. My aim is to create a simple record of these buildings, including of those that no longer exist.

Lymington is a coastal settlement south of Cygnet. It was the site of a convict probation station established in the 1840s and by the late 19th century it had developed as an orchard-growing district. St Patrick’s Convent School was located midway between Lymington and Wattle Grove. 

In the early 1890s Archbishop Murphy promised the Catholic community of Cygnet that a community of nuns would be established to run a Catholic school for the district. Father O’ Flynn welcomed a small group of three Sisters; M. Joseph; M. Hyacinth, and M. Magdalen, as they arrived aboard the S.S. Nubeena. Following the establishment of a convent for the Sisters of St Joseph at Cygnet, attention was directed towards opening a convent school in the Lymington district.

The establishment of St Patrick’s Convent school dates to a meeting held at Cygnet’s Catholic church in May 1899. The Mercury reported:

“On Thursday, 11th inst., a meeting of Catholics was held in the Convent school-room for the purpose of discussing the advisableness of erecting a convent school at Lymington…The meeting was well attended. Father O'Flynn took the chair, and after reading a letter from the Archbishop wishing the undertaking every success explained what he purposed doing should his ideas meet with the approval of the parishioners. His proposal was, that the present church [at Cygnet] be removed to Lymington and used for a school. A contractor of repute had tendered to take the church down and re-erect, it at Lymington for £70, less the cartage. A building of the dimensions of the church could not he built for less than £200, so a saving of at least £100 would be made by this arrangement. A school was urgently required at Lymington, as he had ascertained, by taking the census of the Catholics in that locality, that there were over 50 children of school age within a radius of two miles from the proposed school site….”.

The meeting also agreed that a stone church be built at Cygnet to replace the timber church built in 1867. Ultimately, Cygnet’s old timber church was not moved to Lymington, instead a new school room with accomodation for the Sisters of St Joseph was built. The school opened on Saturday 17 March 1900. Launceston’s Catholic Monitor reported:

“The Right Rev. Dr. Delany opened St Patrick’s Convent and school, Lymington. it is situated on a very picturesque site, presented to the Rev. Father O’ Flynn by Mr. Robert Harvey, and is a very pretty and substantial building. after blessing the Convent, Mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father O’ Flynn, at which Dr. Delany preached a most instructive and impressive sermon on the duty of parents having their children properly educated in the faith…”.

In December 1908 the convent school was destroyed in a fire. Coincidently, Lymington State school had also been destroyed in a fire earlier that year. The Hobart Mercury described the loss of the convent school:

“In the small hours of Christmas morning the convent school and sisters’ residence at Lymington were wholly destroyed by fire, with their contents, including school furniture, books, etc. The buildings were erected a few years ago at a cost of about £400, and the school was conducted by two sisters from St. Joseph's, Hobart, the attendance of children numbering about 30”.

“The sisters securely closed the whole place upon Wednesday last, and proceeded to Port Cygnet, and on Thursday morning took the boat to Hobart to spend their Christmas holidays at the retreat at New Town. About 3 o’clock on Christmas morning the residents near the school, which is situated between Lymington and Wattle Grove, were alarmed to see the school and residence attached a mass of flames, Mr. Direen was the first to arrive on the scene, but was powerless to do anything, as the fire had complete hold of the structures, which were soon burned to ashes”.

“The loss is a very severe one. The premises were not insured, and the sisters have lost everything, including a pianoforte, worth about £50. The fire can only be attributed to the act of an incendiary, as there was no fire left burning in any of the" graves when the sisters left, and no one had been deputed to enter the premises for any purpose. Much sympathy is felt for them. Rev. Father O'Flynn, when seen on the subject on Saturday, said that he was much distressed at the loss sustained. The debt on the building had not been wholly paid off, and now he will have to appear for aid to rebuild as quickly as possible”.

The school was quickly replaced with the foundation stone of the new school being ceremonially laid in January 1909. The Mercury reported:

“Rev. Father O’Flynn and his friends have lost no time in setting about rebuilding the convent and school at Lymington after the destructive fire of a few weeks ago. Mr J. Maddison architect, was at once engaged to prepare plans for the new erections and the contract has been let to Mr. Dunnn of Hobart, at £106 for putting up the structure on the old stone foundations, whilst it is calculated that over £100 will be required for furnishing the school and sisters quarters. The entire work is to be completed by the middle of April but the schoolhouse will be ready in about six weeks time. In the meantime school will be resumed on the 25th inst. in an outhouse [shed] close by which will serve the purpose temporarily, being summer time”.

“The new schoolroom will be characterised by strong improvements over the previous one and will accommodate about 40 children. Both schoolrooms and sisters quarters will be of weatherboards with a corrugated iron roof”.

“The memorial stone was laid yesterday by Monsignor Gilleran. It was a very pleasant summer’s day, and the Wattle Grove road leading to the site of the new buildings, presented an animated appearance in the early part of the afternoon with scores of parties in vehicles, others on horseback and on foot, making for the same spot. The s.s. Marani ran from Hobart, making the trip in the record time of 2 hours and 40 minutes but it was a disappointment that so few Hobart Catholics availed themselves of the trip. The s.s. Waldemar brought a much larger party from Franklin….”.

In April 1909 St Patrick’s convent school was officially opened and blessed by Archbishop Delany. The school remained in use until 1925 when it was closed due to declining numbers of students. It briefly reopened in 1929 for a period of two years before it the building was moved to a more central location in Lymington. The history of the new school, which also served as a church, will be the subject of a further article on ‘Churches of Tasmania’.

St Patrick's Convent School (c.1910) Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart


The second Catholic Church, designed by Henry Hunter (1867) It was proposed to move the building to Lymington for use as a convent school. Photo credit: David Coad A history of Tasmania. Volume 2, Port Cygnet 1860 -1900. (source/photographer not known)


Sources:

Mercury, Tuesday 16 May 1899, page 3
The Monitor, Friday 30 March 1900, page 5
Mercury, Wednesday 3 October 1900, page 6
Examiner, Monday 28 December 1908, page 3
Mercury, Monday 28 December 1908, page 5
Daily Post, Thursday 14 January 1909, page 3
Mercury, Monday 18 January 1909, page 3

https://tww.id.au/cygnet/lymington.html

Coad, David, Lymington - Southern Tasmania, David Coad. Battery Point, Tasmania. 2023.

Southerwood, W. T Planting a faith in Tasmania : the country parishes. [W. T. Southerwood], [Hobart], 1977.










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