Villanova College (Australia)


Villanova College is a private, Roman Catholic school for boys located in Coorparoo, a southern suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school has a non-selective enrolment policy for all years. It caters to approximately 1,500 boys in three schools, Junior, Middle, and Senior from year five to twelve. It was established in 1948 by six Irish priests, led by Ben O'Donnell, who was from the Order of Saint Augustine in the suburb of Hamilton. In 1954, due to a lack of prospects for growth in Hamilton, the college moved to its present site at Coorparoo. The college is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia and the Associated Independent Colleges.
WWW vnc.qld.edu.auFB villanova.qldYT villanovacollegeau

History

Whinstanes (1948–1953)

Whinstaines House was built by prominent society figure Alexander Brand Webster. After his death, the house and the remaining 9 acres of land were sold 1925 to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who established College Whinstanes, which opened as a junior boys boarding school. The school’s motto “Vincit Veritas” is the Webster motto was borrowed from a stained glass window in Whinstaines House with the Webster crest.
In 1948, archbishop James Duhig welcomed Ben O'Donnell with five other Irish Augustinians to Australia, and invited them to start a school in Brisbane. They subsequently established Villanova in the suburb of Whinstanes. On 25 January 1948, the college was officially opened by the chancellor of the University of Queensland, William Forgan Smith, who raised the college flag in front of the main entrance and was blessed by Duhig. In 1953 a decision was made to move the college due to lack of prospects for expansion in Whinstanes.

Coorparoo (1954–present)

Early in the 1880s, merchant Reuben Nicklin built a large house Langlands in Coorparoo. In 1886, Nicklin built another house Hatherton at another site in Coorparoo and sold the Langlands house and its grounds.. Thomas Connah and William Brookes bought a large block of land that included Nicklin's house. Connah resided in Nicklin's former residence. Connah became Queensland auditor-general and he sold Langlands to archbishop James Duhig in 1916. Langlands became the Good Samaritan Convent of Saint Scholastica until 1953, when Villanova College moved from Whinstanes to the Coorparoo property.
The school was officially opened on 22 November 1953 by Duhig. The building had been built for £50,000 and could accommodate 500 students. In the 1960s/70s, a library, science laboratories, senior classrooms and a new primary block joined the existing buildings on the campus. During this period, the college saw additional co-curricular facilities including a swimming pool on campus and sporting fields at Tingalpa. During the 1970s/80s the college saw the foundation of the student council as well as the leadership role of all the boys in the senior class which led to the abolition of the prefect system. The election of captains and vice-captains of the school and houses by the senior class was started. The Goold gymnasium and assembly hall were built as well as more classrooms, new science laboratories, a technical drawing room, and some art rooms.
The late eighties and nineties saw the governance of the college now entrusted to a college council composed of staff, parents, Augustinians, past students, and friends of the college. It also saw new courses start in computing, and catering start at the college and the introduction of a campus-wide computer network as well as computers in classrooms. The 1990s saw the college split from the TAS competition and the foundation of the AIC Competition.
In the process of the college's new master plan, the newest addition to Villanova is the Saint Thomas of Villanova Learning Centre.
In 2006 the college inaugurated its three present schools:
  • Junior school, consisting of years 5 and 6
  • middle school, incorporating years 7, 8 and 9
  • senior school, years 10, 11 and 12.
The most recent building in the college is the Saint Thomas of Villanova Learning Centre. The St Thomas of Villanova Learning Centre, with views of the Brisbane skyline, has been designed for twenty-first-century learning. It adds six classrooms to the senior precinct of the college along with an auditorium, facilities for the head of senior school and pastoral leaders, a common area, and spacious breakout areas for individual and group learning. Levels one and two of the St Thomas of Villanova Learning Centre constitute the new junior school of the college. Twelve open-area classrooms with wide and varied breakout areas allow for cooperative teaching and learning.

House system

Villanova College has 8 houses that compete in inter-house athletics, cross-country, and swimming, as well as many other school-based activities s.
NameColorAnimal
AlypiusBlackHorse
AmbroseGreenOwl
AugustinePurpleHippo
AdeodatusTealPhoenix
NicholasBlueWolf
MonicaYellowLion
RitaRedBee
ThomasPinkPelican

Rectors and principals

There have been 8 Augustinian rectors at Villanova College in its history. The traditional job of the rector was to lead the college but this changed after the retirement of Michael Morahan in 2009. Now Villanova College has a lay principal with the priests living in the priory at Villanova College looking after school Masses. The current chaplain of the college is Peter Wieneke.
RectorYearsNotes
Ben O'Donnell1948–1958Founding member and first rector of the college
Louis Hanrahan1959–1964
Kevin Burman1965–1970
Donal Paul Dempsey1971–1975
Laurence Mooney1976–1986
Peter Weineke1987–1994
Michael Morahan1995–2009Last Augustinian rector of the college
Dennis Harvey2010–2014
Mark Stower2015–2021
Paul Begg2022–Current

Co-curriculum

Sport

The college is a foundation member of the Associated Independent Colleges. The college has sporting fields at Tingalpa, in Brisbane's east suburbs. The AIC Sporting Association is for all years from five to open. It comprises 8 schools, Marist College Ashgrove, St Edmunds College, Ipswich, St Patrick's College, Iona College, Padua College, St Laurence's College and St. Peters Lutheran College. The sports played by the association are rugby union, soccer, Australian Football League, cricket, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, chess, Water Polo, athletics and cross country.

AIC premierships

Villanova College has won the following AIC premierships.
  • Basketball – 2002, 2004, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
  • Cricket – 2001, 2002, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2021
  • Rugby – 2010
  • Soccer – 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2022
  • Tennis – 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012
  • Volleyball – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2022
  • AFL – 2022
  • Rugby League – 2023

Music

The college currently has over 30 main music ensembles including:
  • Symphony orchestras
  • String orchestras
  • Concert bands
  • Vocal ensembles
  • Guitar ensembles
  • Percussion ensembles
  • Sport/Spirit Drumlines
  • Jazz ensembles
  • Commercial ensembles
  • Irish ensembles
  • Chamber string, woodwind, and brass ensembles
The college hosts Queensland's largest music festival for Catholic schools and colleges, Queensland Catholic Schools & College's Music Festival. Villanova is home to a music center, known as the Augustine Centre. Within this center is the Hanrahan Theatre, named after the second rector of the college, Fr John Hanrahan. Music at Villanova College is a true community enterprise, thanks to enthusiastic support from staff, students, parents, and the local and greater Brisbane communities. Considered an inclusive art, there is a place for all students in our music program, so long as they have the necessary desire and commitment to create music at the highest possible standard.

Cultural and spiritual

Villanova runs musical productions in conjunction with Loreto College every two years. Recent productions have been Crazy for You, Guys and Dolls, and most recently High School Musical. Students of Chinese language studies have the opportunity to visit China every second year. The music department holds a music tour for all students in the college's senior ensembles every two years, the most recent tours being to the United States in 2013, Tasmania in 2015, New Zealand in 2017 as part of the Rhapsody Rotorua Music Festival, Sydney in 2019 with the Senior Percussion Ensemble and Villanova Conkestra, where students performed at world-class venues including the Sydney Opera House.

Notable incidents

Brick wall collapse

On 27 December 2016, an eight-metre-high section of brick wall collapsed in the senior school's Veritas building. No students were injured, as the collapse occurred over the Christmas school holiday. Principal Mark Stower stated the timing of the collapse was "the grace of God." The collapse occurred during a rectification project on the Veritas building to replace non-galvanized steel, of which was used in the original construction, with galvanized steel.

Cor Unum Centre fire

On 27 September 2017 the Cor Unum Centre, located in Villanova Park, was destroyed after a fire engulfed the centre, causing irreversible damage to the facility and the grandstand connected to it. The centre was demolished and replaced with a new grandstand in 2019.

Michael Endicott indecent treatment convictions

On 24 June 2010 Michael Ambrose Endicott, a former priest at the school, appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child. On two separate occasions in 1977 and 1978, Endicott had photographed the same student naked. On one occasion, the student was taken out of class and into the bushland, where the student was photographed naked. On the other occasion, the student was taken to the school's bell tower and was photographed naked. Endicott was given a one-year jail sentence which was wholly suspended.
On 17 April 2019 Endicott was convicted of three counts of indecent treatment with a child after it was alleged by another former student that between 1975 and 1981, he was photographed naked on three separate occasions. The former student had been first photographed on a school hiking trip, in which the then nine-year-old student had naked pictures taken of him by a creek. The former student then alleged he was abused similarly on two other occasions. Endicott was sentenced to 18 months in jail, with his sentence to be suspended after 6 months served in prison. The conviction was later overturned in Endicott's favour, as at the time, Queensland law did not consider taking nude photographs of a child to be indecent dealing. Villanova College has since posted an official apology.

Notable alumni

Villanova Old Boys Association Incorporated is the association for all old boys of the college.
Arts
  • James Moloney – author, best known for The Book of Lies, The Gracey Trilogy, and A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove.
  • Liam Ferney – poet, best known for Content, Hot Take and Boom.
Politics
Sport
Media and entertainment
Law

Associated schools

Villanova's brother school is St. Augustine's College, Brookvale in Sydney. Loreto College is the sister school of Villanova College.