Celebrating the story of schooling

During his internship, Wayne worked with Townsville Catholic Education to develop an exhibition celebrating 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia.

The research project gave Wayne the chance to dig through hundreds of years of local history to create an exhibition that celebrated the history of Catholic education within the Townsville Diocese that spans north to Ingham, south to The Whitsunday’s and west to Mount Isa. “The archive has a strong photographic collection that captures fascinating parts of our local history, along with other important artefacts including vestments, chalices and other religious items,” Wayne says.

The exhibition took many months of work and was put on display for the thousand teachers that attended the conference. “In April 2021, TCEO held a conference in Townsville to provide educators across the Diocese an opportunity to come together and at this event there was a historical display to celebrate the bicentenary. My role as an intern was to research the history of Catholic education within the Townsville Diocese. The exhibition covered the key figures within this history as well as individual sections about each of the schools in the region.”

But Wayne says the research also would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers at the Catholic Archive. “I worked a lot with Helen Lucas who was fantastic, but there is also a wonderful team of volunteers who work at the Townsville Catholic Archives,” Wayne says.

Wayne also made some unexpected discoveries within the archive. Various records allowed him to develop more of the colourful story surrounding Father William McGinty, one of the founding figures of Catholicism in the Townsville Diocese. “McGinty was a significant and interesting man,” Wayne says. “He advanced the cause of the Catholic Church in locations that were on the outer reaches of the colonies. He did, however, have a slight reputation for controversy.”

“McGinty was an industrious and eager character who moved from Ipswich to North Queensland in the second half of the nineteenth century. He arrived in Port Denison, near Bowen, which was then at the outer northern reaches of the Catholic Church in Australia,” he says. “McGinty immediately set to work on building a church there, but not without ruffling a few feathers first,” Wayne says. This research also gave Wayne the opportunity to contribute an afterword to the Catholic Diocese of Townsville’s forthcoming book, A Great Deal of Labour and Riding About.

While Wayne kept himself busy researching, writing and editing among a community of postgraduates for Sūdō Journal — a journal Wayne singlehandedly founded — his impressive repertoire of skills led to further work at the Catholic Archive.

“Following the success of the conference, it became apparent that this type of historical research could also benefit the 29 Catholic schools within our region in many other ways,” Wayne says. “So, at the moment I’ve been hired to develop a more detailed historical timeline for each of the schools that are currently in operation. This research will form as the base for the schools to share their historic story on each of their websites,” Wayne says.

While schools both new and old will have their histories recorded, Wayne says they each have their own unique story to tell. “Columba Catholic College in Charters Towers is really interesting because it has such a long history in the region. It’s actually spread over several locations and those locations were originally other, much older schools,” he says. “The first Catholic primary school in Charters Towers, St Columbcille, was actually founded in 1874, making it one of the oldest schools in the Diocese. The first Catholic school in the Townsville Diocese was established in Ravenswood in 1871, but it closed down shortly after.”

Interestingly, each school’s history is closely woven together with many of the churches in the region. “Often the Catholic community would build the church first, which would also serve as the school building. When the parish later built a new church, they would permanently convert the old church into a dedicated school,” Wayne says.

Each archival record builds up a picture of Catholic schooling in the Townsville Diocese and shows that the Catholic archive’s value cannot be understated. “The Townsville Catholic Archive emphasises the importance of religion, particularly the Catholic Church, to the foundation and colonisation of Townsville and the broader North Queensland region,” Wayne says.

“It’s been good to put my research skills and historical skills developed during my studies at JCU to good use. From the internship to the job, I’ve been able to apply these skills in a practical context for the work of a professional historian.”

Adjunct Research Associate Dr Wayne Bradshaw

You can find Wayne behind the editor’s desk of Sūdō Journal or furthering the important story of Catholic Education at the Townsville Catholic Archive.