Frank Rogan. A short history of Catholic Education: Archdiocese of Melbourne 1839-1980.

FRANK ROGAN. A short history of Catholic Education: Archdiocese of Melbourne 1839-1980. Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, 2000; ix + 125 pages.

Telling our story as a means of developing and deepening faith is a very ancient part of the Christian tradition. It is also fundamental to the process of contemporary Catholic education. This book is a very useful survey of the story of Catholic education in Melbourne from 1839 to 1980.

As the current Director of Catholic Education in Melbourne, Father Tom Doyle, says in his foreword, 'teachers in Catholic schools today will find this story supporting them' as they carry on their work. Certainly, the development of the current contemporary and dynamic Australian Catholic school system, which is independent yet enjoys very significant government funding, is one of the great success stories of the Catholic Church of recent times. The struggles, changes and success of the past 150 years comprise a story which needs to be told frequently.

In this book the story is told chronologically, but somewhat unevenly. For example, the twenty year period between the wars, 1919-1939, is dealt with in less than two pages of text. The twenty years 1960-1980, certainly a momentous time in the story, requires almost half the book.

The perspective from which the story is told is also interesting. To a significant extent, this is history from the perspective of Archbishops and Diocesan Directors. It is certainly a wonderful celebration of the extraordinary contribution of the religious orders to Catholic education.

Although the author reminds us that lay people were the majority of Catholic school teachers since the 1960s, (55% in 1968) this is not their story. They are absent from the pages of the book, with the very occasional exception. While the book identifies some of the significant issues of recent decades in Catholic education, including the struggle for adequate teacher education, just salaries, and the increasing professionalisation and theological literacy of the lay-led Catholic school system, this vital part of the story remains to be told.

A great strength of the book is the wonderful richness of the illustrations: there are 109 plates, almost all superb historical photos. They too indicate many stories waiting to be told. At Bentleigh in 1933 a team of at least a dozen horses is shown dragging a timber four-roomed cottage across the market gardens, to serve as a convent, and later secondary classrooms, for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The same page 34 also shows the well dressed young ladies of the Sacre Coeur Convent, East Malvern, 1894, elegantly arranged in front of 'Brynmawr', the Sisters' residence. In the hands of a skilled teacher, that page alone could form a great lesson for a class of high school students.

Not only do the examples of school architecture raise historical questions, so too do the photos of the students: the small line of uniformed, smiling children with Sister Wilfred Mary at Bentleigh in 1962 make an interesting comparison with Sister Michael's large class at West Heidelberg ten years earlier (pages 68 and 71). In the same way, the pictures of students and classrooms ask questions about the curriculum and culture of the schools: for example the boys of the science class at Assumption, Kilmore, about 1925, the deportment class at Vaucluse FCJ Convent in 1915, the Eucharistic Festival and several First Communion photos.

Young teachers beginning their careers in Australian Catholic schools in 2001 may well have been educated in Catholic schools without ever being taught by a religious Sister or Brother. In becoming teachers in Catholic schools they join a dynamic contemporary ministry in the Church at a time when Catholic schools are generally well resourced, staffed by committed lay professionals, and well respected by the Australian community. As Ann Clark, foundation director of Catholic schools in the Parramatta diocese, liked to say, they stand on the shoulders of giants. This book introduces them and their students to some of their heritage, and raises some of the significant issues. Hopefully it will leave them with many questions, and stimulate them to explore their story further.

Mark J. Askew