Seton Catholic College was established in January 1990 as a secondary school of the Archdiocese of Perth. It is a College founded on the traditions and experience of the two pre-existing schools from which it was developed – St Brendan’s College, established in 1964 by the Society of African Missions, and De Vialar College, established by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition in 1968 from their previously existing St Joseph’s School in Fremantle, established in 1855. The history of Seton Catholic College can then be traced back to the very first religious sisters landing at Bather's Beach in Fremantle who were the founders of Catholic Education in Western Australia.
This co-educational College began operating on the two sites formally occupied by St Brendan’s and De Vialar Colleges. The De Vialar Campus catered for upper school students (Years 11 and 12) while the lower school students (Years 8, 9 and 10) were situated on the St Brendan’s Campus. The College was placed under the patronage of St Elizabeth Seton, who on being widowed, devoted her life to the establishment of the parochial school system in the United States. The College amalgamated onto its present site, the De Vialar Campus in 1996.
The traditions of the founding schools as well as the distinctive existence of Seton Catholic College, find expression in the College crest. The cross of salvation and the flame of faith, prominent in the crests of its antecedent Colleges, are both represented, and the stylised sea gulls and waves symbolise Seton College’s links with the Fremantle area.
The College motto, “Seek Christ”, is an embodiment of the central mission of the Catholic school and expresses the hope that all in the College community will seek primarily to know and follow Christ in their lives
Four French Sisters of the Congregation of St Joseph of the Apparition arrived in Fremantle on the May 25th 1855. They were the last Sisters of the Congregation to be personally chosen and sent out by its Foundress, St Emilie De Vialar, shortly before she died. After their rough four-month journey in the frigate, “Lady Amherst”, and with no knowledge of the language, the Sisters landed in a colony which was only just twenty years old. They took over what was the first Catholic school in Fremantle, originally named St Francis Xavier School, which had been set up in 1847 on Lot 66 Henry Street, adjacent to the Orient Hotel. This property consisted of four rooms, with two upper storey rooms serving as convent and the ground floor as church and school, and it was frequently flooded. Nevertheless, this was the site of the first convent school, St Joseph’s, which opened there on July 1st 1855, only five weeks after their arrival. By 1858, the Sisters were able to rent other cramped quarters on the corner of High and Queen Streets. The increasing number of pupils meant that by 1863, despite great financial difficulties, a convent and school were eventually built next to St Patrick’s Church. This school went on to have a varied history as a school for young ladies, a school for the poor, a boarding college for girls, a co-educational lower primary school, an upper primary school and a secondary college for girls.
In 1968, the Sisters built on more spacious grounds out in the bush at the corner of Winterfold Road and Marchant Street in Samson. Staff and secondary students relocated from Fremantle. As in Fremantle, half of the new building housed the convent proper, the Provincial administration of the Sisters, and their novitiate. The other half was given over to the new college, which, while remaining under the patronage of St Joseph, was renamed De Vialar College. The Sisters did this to honour their foundress, the strong, far-sighted woman whose first aim was to minister to the spiritually and materially poor regardless of any distinction. They chose the motto “Devotedness”, taken from their congregational motto, to promote total commitment to this aim. Initially, there were 24 boarders and 356 day students at this site. By 1989, however, many changing factors in the field of Catholic Education made it desirable to amalgamate with St Brendan’s College in Beaconsfield, and the Sisters began the process of integrating with the other school and relocating. By 1990 the community of Sisters had moved out and the whole site became known as Seton Catholic College.
The commitment of the Sisters, in the spirit of their Foundress, to the people of Fremantle for over a century and a half has remained legendary. It forms part of the solid missionary base upon which Seton Catholic College is built.
In 1962, Archbishop Prendiville of Perth approached the central administration of the Society of African Missions to send members to Western Australia to staff a new college. This was to be built in York Street, Hilton, in answer to the rapid expansion of the Fremantle area. In addition, the Society was asked to be responsible for the administration of the nearby parish of Beaconsfield. The seven and a half acres on which the College was to be built was the first land donated by the Australian Government to Catholic Education.
Fr Creaven SMA arrived in Perth in January 1963 to view the parish and the proposed site of the new College. In preparation, Fr Murphy and Fr Walsh joined staff in Perth Catholic schools to accustom themselves to the teaching and administration of Australian Catholic schools. Fr O’Shea was named first Principal and Brother Francis Murphy was appointed Secretary, Bursar and Teacher at the College. Brother Francis was to become the only foundation member to see the College through to its eventual amalgamation into Seton Catholic College, and became a legendary and well-loved figure around the new school. Fr O’Shea chose to name the College in honour of a well known Irish saint, Brendan. St Brendan’s desire to wander the known world and extend his travels into the unknown for the Christian cause inspired the college Motto of “Wanderers for Christ”.
St Brendan’s College was officially opened on February 9th, 1964, and its first intake was 30 boys in Grades 4 and 5. Although originally intended to cater for boys from mid-primary to upper secondary, by 1984 it had become a co-educational secondary college. In 1973, a Board of Management and the first lay Principal of a Catholic school were appointed to St Brendan’s. Mr Peter Davies Moore took up office in April 1973.
In the late 1980s, St Brendan’s became part of a process of amalgamation with De Vialar College. In 1990, with the opening of Seton Catholic College, St Brendan’s College became one of the two campuses of the new school, with lower secondary housed there and upper secondary occupying the De Vialar site. However, by 1996, with the additional extensions to the Marchant Road site, the amalgamation process was completed and the two sites became one. The building previously known as St Brendan’s College became Christ the King Primary School, thus providing accommodation badly needed for the expansion of that school.
The pioneering spirit of its founding Society of the African Missions, combined with the intrepid courage of St Brendan, form an integral part of the rich Christian heritage upon which Seton Catholic College is built.