College Badge & House Names

College Badge

The Motto

“Christus Lux Mea” (Christ My Light) emphasises the reason for the existence of the College. It is a Catholic community that is dedicated to the development of Gospel values for all.

The Cross

The Cross is the centre, the strength and the uniting theme of the crest. It emphasises the elements of self-discipline and self-sacrifice that are implied in the Motto.

St Francis Xavier

When the school, “St Mary’s Star of the Sea”, moved from Newcastle on the Hill to its present site in 1928, St Francis Xavier was chosen as its patron saint. St Francis was a Jesuit scholar, a missionary in Asia and is one of the patron saints of Australia.

The Sailing Ship

The ship symbolises the missionary dimension of the life of St Francis Xavier and the journey of all people as they leave safe harbours to venture into an unknown world.

The Star

The star symbolises the link between the present school and the one that began in 1898 on the Hill, called “St Mary’s Star of the Sea”.

House Names

Champagnat House

Champagnat House takes its name from Saint Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers.  The Brothers were founded in France in 1817 to respond to the spiritual and physical needs of the young and poor, especially through education.  By the time Champagnat died in 1840, there were over 280 Brothers, and already some had left as missionaries in lands far away.

Dominic House

Dominic House is named after the Spaniard, St Dominic de Guzman, ca. 1170-1221, the founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans). At an early age Dominic was motivated to oppose the heresy at the time which promoted the dual concept of a good God and an evil God.  Travelling on foot, Dominic founded communities of his Priests and Sisters in France, Italy and Spain. The Sisters of St Dominic are now found in all parts of the world.  They came to the diocese of Maitland in 1867.

MacKillop House

MacKillop House is named after Saint Mary MacKillop, the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph.  Mary, the eldest of eight children, was born in Melbourne on 15 January 1842. In 1860, when she was 18, Mary went to Penola in South Australia, where she took up the position of governess.  It was here that she first met Fr Julian Tenison Woods.  Between them they established a new religious congregation dedicated to the work of educating children in the area.  The Sisters of St Joseph were founded, and schools conducted by them spread rapidly.  They came to the diocese of Maitland, to Lochinvar, in 1883.

McAuley House

Is named after the Venerable Catherine McAuley, 1778-1841, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy.  Born in Dublin, she established a House of Mercy for the poor in Dublin in 1827, and, with encouragement from the local archbishop, founded a religious community in 1831 to serve the poor, the sick, and the distressed. Between 1831 and 1841 Catherine personally opened twelve of the fourteen original Convents of Mercy. In time, the Sisters of Mercy became the largest group of women religious established in the English-speaking world.  They came to the diocese of Maitland, to Singleton, in 1875.