388:, with sweeping horizontal and vertical lines and a minimum of architectural ornament. The building was constructed of re-inforced concrete throughout - including the floors and roofs of the deep verandahs. On the ground floor were two large classrooms, main entrance hall, and rear entrance porch and cloak room. Each of the rooms could be divided in two by folding doors. A staircase led from the entrance hall on the ground floor to a central hall on the upper floor, which housed the music rooms: 12 cubicles for pianos, insulated with Canite and Masonite, with glass observation windows in the dividing walls. The building was designed to be extended at the north end with an additional wing, and for a third storey to be added.
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512:, St Monica's High School Administration Building is part of a grouping of pre-1945 20th century buildings which, although of different styles, are all of similar scale, materials and planning. Both individually and as a group, these buildings make a significant aesthetic contribution to the Cairns townscape and Abbott Street streetscape, and contribute markedly to the city's sense of physical identity and history.
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in 1924, the continued success of the local sugar industry, the expansion of wharf facilities, the extensive re-building necessitated by a spate of cyclones in the 1920s and the poor condition of earlier timber structures, combined to produce unprecedented building activity in Cairns in the interwar
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St Monica's High School
Administration Building is significant historically for its close association with the development of Catholic secondary education for girls in Cairns and district since 1941. It is also evidence of the re-building of Cairns in the interwar period, sustained into the early
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Cairns boomed during the interwar period, and by the end of the 1930s the need for a purpose-designed high school building at St Monica's had become urgent. Cairns architect VM Brown was commissioned to design a high school, to be erected on land in Abbott Street which the
Sisters had acquired in
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When St Monica's School expanded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and became exclusively a secondary school for girls, the purpose-designed 1941 building was not extended as intended. New high school blocks were erected fronting Lake Street, behind the original St Monica's High School building,
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moved to Cairns in
October 1892 and were successful in encouraging Catholic families to return their children to St Monica's School. By 1894 enrolment had risen to 80, and was well over 100 by the turn-of-the-century. They offered a full primary school curriculum and extra-curricula classes in
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Despite internal and external refurbishment as offices, St Monica's High School
Administration Building survives largely intact, and is a fine illustration of 1940s tropical architecture in the then fashionable and progressive Moderne style. It is of interest also for its re-inforced concrete
455:. Access to the first floor is from a return stair at the end of the hall. After 1949 the first floor room on the left of the entry was fitted out as a science room, with wooden built-in semi-circular tiered seating and benches. It remained this way up to at least 1970.
480:. During this period the city's status as the principal port of Far North Queensland was consolidated and the city centre was largely re-built. It also illustrates a tradition of building in re-inforced concrete, favoured in cyclone-prone Cairns since the early 1900s.
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at each side that rise through the first floor to a fluted stepped parapet which is finished with a small cross. Below this at first floor level is a large cross in low relief. Each side of this, also in low relief, is located the name ST MONICA'S - HIGH SCHOOL. Solid
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that have been enclosed with the insertion of aluminium windows. Continuous horizontal wide projecting concrete hoods, which have rounded corners, run over the verandah openings and give the building a strong horizontal character. This is accentuated by small
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St Monica's High School
Administration Building has a strong association for the local Catholic community with the work of the Sisters of Mercy in offering secondary education to the girls of Cairns and district in the mid-20th century.
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and brick structures of the interwar period, and in this respect was markedly different from other 19th century-established
Queensland towns and cities. St Monica's High School made an important contribution to this re-construction.
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The place is important as a good example of the work of Cairns architect VM Brown, and is important for its close association with the work of the
Sisters of Mercy in expanding Catholic education in far north Queensland.
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The original fence survives along Lake Street, and consists of a low concrete wall with evenly spaced piers and "Cyclone" chain mesh infill panels running up to paired concrete gateposts in line with the entrance door.
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and built in 1941 by VW Doyle. This building was once also known as St Monica's High School and was used for several years as the school administration building, although now it contains classrooms. It was added to the
321:, had encouraged the Sisters of Mercy at Cooktown to take over St Monica's School in Cairns (established 1890 with lay staff), where the number of pupils had fallen dramatically from 70 to 19. Three of the
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in
February 1927, St Monica's secondary school was conducted under difficult conditions. In what was predominantly a primary school, there were no purpose-designed classrooms for secondary subjects.
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753:
487:, these buildings form a highly intact ecclesiastical group, and are important in illustrating the evolution of the Catholic Church and Catholic education in Cairns and district.
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in Cairns. The two-storeyed re-inforced concrete building was designed by South
African-born Cairns architect Vibert McKirdy Brown, and was constructed by contractor VW Doyle.
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on 1 July 1997. St Monica's
College is the oldest school in the Cairns region and has two heritage listed buildings - Sr Morrissey Building and the Sr Cecilia Building.
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Work on St Monica's High School had begun by January 1941, and was completed by late August, at a cost of approximately £5,000. Plans had been approved prior to the
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St Monica's High School, which is set back from Lake Street, is a two-storeyed reinforced concrete building with a rectangular floor plan. It has a
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which has been refurbished as the school's administration centre. In 1989, title to the property was transferred from the Sisters of Mercy to the
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The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.
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blessed and officially opened the High School on Sunday 31 August 1941, and the school was occupied by the Sisters and students the next day.
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The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
349:. A former boarding house, which the Sisters had used as a music school, was demolished prior to construction of the new building.
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construction, considered more cyclone-proof than masonry, and is a good example of non-government school design of the period.
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St Monica's High School was erected toward the end of Cairns' third major phase of development. The Cairns hinterland
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The ground floor has two large classrooms that are divided by a central hall which connects to a small attached rear
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The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
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In the 1930s the work of the convent school expanded to educate girls to secondary school level. Despite a new
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at first and ground floor levels have indented stripped patterns symmetrically positioned between concrete
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The new building was considered an asset to the architecture of the city. The design was in the
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French, drawing, painting, needlework, and music (vocal and instrumental) to older girls.
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The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
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war-time restrictions on buildings costing over £3,000, introduced in mid-1941. Bishop
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St Monica's High School (now the Administration Building) was erected in 1941 for the
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period. The city centre in particular was dominated until the 1980s by substantial,
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649:. Vol. 72, no. 8031. Queensland, Australia. 17 October 1927. p. 4
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621:. Vol. 72, no. 8024. Queensland, Australia. 8 October 1927. p. 4
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on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were originally computed from the
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that support the verandahs and project and terminate above the parapet.
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Nearly 50 years earlier, during the height of the 1890s depression, the
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677:. No. 12, 333. Queensland, Australia. 1 September 1941. p. 3
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Location of St Monica's College - Sr Cecilia Building in Queensland
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St Monica's High School Administration Building was listed on the
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585:"St Monica's High School Administration Building (entry 601748)"
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The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
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St Monica's High School Administration Building (Australia)
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on 1 July 1997 having satisfied the following criteria.
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and is surrounded on three sides by reinforced concrete
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This Knowledge (XXG) article was originally based on
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St Monica's High School Administration Building, 1996
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754:St Monica's High School Administration Building
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146:Sister Cecilia Building, St Monica's College
685:– via National Library of Australia.
657:– via National Library of Australia.
629:– via National Library of Australia.
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724:"Queensland heritage register boundaries"
24:St Monica's College - Sr Cecilia Building
735:licence (accessed on 5 September 2014,
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427:The central entrance is highlighted by
275:St Monica's College Sr Cecilia Building
190:office/administration building, fencing
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774:Buildings and structures in Cairns
717:licence (accessed on 7 July 2014,
706:"The Queensland heritage register"
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277:is a heritage-listed part of the
789:Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns
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289:, Australia. It was designed by
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337:having been constructed after
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799:School buildings in Australia
779:Private schools in Queensland
593:. Queensland Heritage Council
769:Queensland Heritage Register
590:Queensland Heritage Register
465:Queensland Heritage Register
296:Queensland Heritage Register
136:Queensland Heritage Register
504:Together with the adjacent
315:Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown
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354:Soldier Settlement Schemes
485:St Monica's Old Cathedral
335:St Monica's Church-School
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424:and first floor levels.
97:1939–1945 (World War II)
794:Cairns City, Queensland
375:Australian Government's
235:Show map of Queensland
187:Significant components
154:state heritage (built)
120:Architectural style(s)
756:at Wikimedia Commons
739:on 15 October 2014).
641:"ST. MONICA'S CHURCH"
358:North Coast rail link
263:Show map of Australia
182:1941–ongoing (social)
669:"AUSPICIOUS OPENING"
291:Vibert McKirdy Brown
114:Vibert McKirdy Brown
78:16.9176°S 145.7731°E
729:State of Queensland
711:State of Queensland
506:St Joseph's Convent
367:reinforced concrete
347:St Joseph's Convent
74: /
345:1922, adjacent to
325:from St Mary's at
287:Cairns, Queensland
281:in Abbott Street,
178:1940s (historical)
175:Significant period
167:Reference no.
83:-16.9176; 145.7731
50:Cairns, Queensland
752:Media related to
727:published by the
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394:Diocese of Cairns
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613:"ST. MONICA'S"
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679:. Retrieved
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694:Attribution
681:20 November
674:Cairns Post
653:20 November
646:Cairns Post
625:20 November
618:Cairns Post
508:and nearby
434:balustrades
409:hipped roof
400:Description
379:John Heavey
283:Cairns City
162:1 July 1997
81: /
69:145°46′23″E
57:Coordinates
52:, Australia
46:Cairns City
763:Categories
534:References
159:Designated
66:16°55′03″S
453:cloakroom
413:verandahs
317:, Bishop
124:Modernism
110:Architect
737:archived
719:archived
597:1 August
418:cornices
362:Brisbane
327:Cooktown
198:VW Doyle
195:Builders
41:Location
422:parapet
323:sisters
302:History
731:under
713:under
170:601748
449:porch
438:piers
102:Built
683:2020
655:2020
627:2020
599:2014
451:and
151:Type
105:1941
360:to
765::
671:.
643:.
615:.
587:.
542:^
396:.
285:,
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601:.
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