Cabra Dominican College
Cabra Dominican College is a private, independent Catholic high school located at Cumberland Park, an inner-southern suburb in Adelaide, South Australia. It was established by an order of Dominican sisters from Cabra, Dublin in February 1886 with nine sisters, and caring for 37 boarders and 4-day girls. Originally offering a co-educational primary education and a high school education for girls, it began accepting boys into the high school in 1978.
The school caters for about 1,200 students and serveseducational year grades from middle school to senior school. The college also offers a grade 13 for those who wish to further their education or if further education is necessary. The college also accepts many international students from countries including Japan and Italy.
The college is distinguished by its rust coloured blazers - with the school colour scheme being gold, rust, black and white.
History
The school is steeped in history and has been around for 130 years. In the year of 1206, Dominic Guzman founded in Prouille, in southern France, a Religious Order of women to care for and instruct young women of that area. This foundation led to the establishment of many Dominican establishments including schools, universities and colleges. In 1868, seven Dominican sisters were invited by the Bishop of Adelaide to visit the South Australian city. The sisters opened a day and boarding school in Franklin Street in inner-Adelaide. The school was moved to the current location in the suburb of Cumberland Park in 1886. At the time, the southern suburbs where Cumberland Park is located, was regarded as a rural farmland area, because at the time the area was largely uninhabited and unoccupied. The school was named after the location of Cabra, the mother house of the Dominican sisters, where they originated from in Ireland, a leading educational establishment.The foundation for the original Cabra building was first laid in March 1885. By the end of the year, the northern and western wings of the main building were established. The school officially opened in February 1886, with a total of nine sisters caring for 37 boarders and 3-day girls. There were an additional 71 girls in the intermediate school and most of these lived in South Australia. The school grew to over 93 boarders and 232-day pupils in the early 1950s. In 1978, the college itself began accepting boys. In 1999, the boarding school closed after over 110 years.
A broad curriculum has been offered at the school since its inception and it has continued to offer it today. The school currently serves an equal number of male and female students with an enrolment of over 1,000 students serving mostly the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
The school has over 1,000 students with students varying from all different backgrounds.
List of Principals
| Year | Name |
| 1994–2002 | Jeff Croser |
| 2003–2011 | John Neate |
| 2011–2017 | Brian Schumacher |
| 2018–Present | Helen Riekie |
House system
In 2017, the four houses of students which were previously only used for sports day, were replaced by four new houses that act somewhat independently from each other. Unlike the pre-2017 houses, the current ones cause the areas of the school to be divided via house, rather than year level. For example, the northernmost building on the school campus was previously allocated to the senior year levels for home classrooms & lockers but is now the location of Moore House.Each house is led by two key staff members known as 'house leaders' who each look after a group of students in their house for the duration of the students time at the college. Each house also has a student leadership team led by two peer elected senior house captains in year 12 who are then aided by year level house captains in each year level from year 7-11.
| House | Year Levels | House Leader |
| Boylan | 7, 9, and 11 | Narelle Sandercock |
| Boylan | 8, 10, and 12 | Edmund O’Brien |
| Kavanagh | 7, 9, and 11 | Henry Whiting |
| Kavanagh | 8, 10, and 12 | Matthew LoBasso |
| Moore | 7, 9, and 11 | Liam Carr |
| Moore | 8, 10, and 12 | Toni Fisher |
| Murphy | 7, 9, and 11 | Ben Heath |
| Murphy | 8, 10, and 12 | Chris De Silva |
The four houses are all named after Nuns which initially came from Ireland to Australia to found the school. The four houses are as follows:
Boylan
Named after Mother Mary Columba Boylan, OP. who was sent down to South Australia in 1875 to assist with the troubles the sisters were facing after the death of Teresa Moore. She took charge of the boarding school and planned to make a complete college which was finished in 1886. The house colours for Boylan are dark blue and light blue; double blues.Kavanagh
Named after Mother Mary Catherine Kavanagh, OP. who took charge of Cabra after the death of Columba Boylan. She considered herself Dominican at Heart, as did most of the other sisters. This was another contribution as to why she was considered a good leader. The house colours for Kavanagh are green and gold.Moore
Named after Mother Mary Teresa Moore, OP. who led the initial group of founding sisters of the college in 1868. As the first Prioress of St. Mary's Franklin Street, she conditioned the building of a small girls boarding school. The house colours for Moore are red and white.Murphy
Named after Mother Mary Catherine Murphy, OP. who was the assistant of Teresa Moore. She was a vital contribution to the sisters overcoming hardships faced after the excommunication of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop in 1871. The house colours for Murphy are purple and orange.Sports Day
Since 2006, the school has held an annual Sports Day. It was revamped in 2017 with the creation of the modern house system. Each student can choose to participate in a selection of sports, with each winning game and/or participation adding to each house's points score. Some games that require large space or long participation are played before the main day.Students are encouraged to not wear the school uniform, but instead wear clothing using their house's colour. This is one of the only times students are permitted to go to school without a uniform.
2 awards are given on the day. The first, and the most prized, is the "Main Cup", which the house with the most points is awarded. The second is the "Spirit Cup", which is given to the house that had the most sportsmanship and best chants.
In the 2020 Games, Boylan House won the main award, and Murphy House won the Spirit Cup.
Veritas Magazine
Since the establishment of the College, the Veritas Magazine has been printed annually and distributed to staff, families, and old scholars at the end of every year. Veritas captures a snapshot of the College for that year incorporating contributions from staff and students.St. Mary's Unit
The St Mary's Unit was established at Cabra Dominican College in 1981. In its thirty-plus years, the St Mary's Unit has brought many meaningful teaching and learning experiences for the students. The St Mary's Unit students enrich the Cabra Dominican College community with their enthusiasm, passion and talents.The unit provides specialised life education curriculum programs for students with diagnosed intellectual disabilities. Below is an outline of the curriculum focus. Please note that the enrolment process and selection criteria is the same for the St Mary's Unit, as that of the College.
Events
The College holds and runs many events, most of which are held annually.Masses
...Big Screen on the Green
...Intercollege Sports (Intercol)
...St. Dominic's Day
A yearly celebration of St. Dominic's feast day including a whole school mass and a school talent quest.House Celebrates Nights
...School Song
The School Song for Cabra Dominican College is titled The Good, The Beautiful, and The True. It was written by now Old Scholars, Katia Labozzetta and Sarah Croser in the early 2000s. Previously, the College used The Hymn to St Dominic 'Sound the Mighty Dominic's Praises as the school song. The Hymn is still often used in conjunction with the current school song. The first verse or so of The Good, The Beautiful, and The True is also used as an anthem to claim victory in sporting events that the College participates in.Buildings
The Convent
The largest building on the college grounds is the original convent that was built in 1885. A large proportion of the ground level houses the college admin staff, including the college principal. The home economics kitchen and classroom are also located within the ground level as is the college boardroom.St. Catherine's Wing
Opened in 2017, the newly developed St. Catherine's Wing saw the old music rooms become 4 multipurpose classrooms split across the upper two levels of the convent. The St. Catherine's Wing is home to Kavanagh house.St. Bridget's Wing
The eastern side of convent houses the St. Bridget's wing which includes a multitude of various music rooms and facilities.Aquinas
The Aquinas building is a two-story building located at the front of the college. The ground floor of the building has various science laboratories including specialised facilities for chemistry, physics, and biology. On the second level of the Aquinas building, some 15 multipurpose classrooms are located. Aquinas is home to Moore House.Aquinas Theatre
Originally a science laboratory, Aquinas Theatre is now one of three dedicated dance and drama spaces that the college offers. At times it is often used to hold year level or house assemblies.Notre Dame
The Notre Dame cluster of buildings comprises the staff room, various staff offices, and the General Science Lab which is mainly used for students in Grade 7.O'Mara
Redeveloped in 2017 to accommodate a new library at the college, O'Mara is made up of 10 classrooms, one of which is a general science lab. O'Mara is home to Boylan House.Monica Farrelly Atrium
The permanent location of the Monica Farrelly Library, the Atrium contains the IT desk and a Library housing over 10,000 books, audiobooks and DVDs.Siena Wing
An offshoot of O'Mara, this wing includes the St. Mary's Unit and the Learning Centre. At the western edge of the building is Student Services and the Maitron.St. Dominics Classrooms
The St. Dominics Classrooms hold claim to multiple general use classrooms and a "Media Centre".Fra Angelico Arts Centre
Opened in 2003, the centres 5 classrooms are used for art, woodworking and metalwork. It acts as a general creative area, often used for construction of decorations around the college. The Maintenance Centre is technically apart of the building, although being only a small shed, garage, kitchen, and single classroom.Caleruega Hall
This building is the newest of Cabra's campus. Up until 2018, a small, corrugated-iron gym was located at the site, but was demolished as part of a series of renovations in the school. Its first use was for Cabra Celebrates 2019, but officially began use in the first term of the 2020 school year. The Hall is predominately used as a gym, but also includes a "Sports Office" and "Sports Shed". New improvements to the building include air conditioning and retractable, permanent bleachers.St. Dominic's Hall
St. Dominic's Hall acts as a multipurpose auditorium, used for lessons and planned to be the area for future Musicals. SDH has welcomed performers to the school since 2017, some of which also perform at the Adelaide Fringe.Logo
The Coat of Arms of Cabra Dominican College has changed once or twice since the school's foundation in 1886. The design of the Escutcheon in the logo is based on the arms of the Dominican Order. The shield is divided evenly into eight gyrons, alternating sable and argent. These colours, more commonly called black and white, are the armourial colours of the Guzmán family, Guzmán being the family name of Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. The black and white Cross in the centre of the shield was worn by the knights of the Order of Calatrava, a family of which St Dominic's mother was of. At each end of the cross is a stylised fleur-de-lis, called a 'Flowering of the Cross', which represents purity. The symbol above the shield is a Five-pointed star, which is placed in memory of the star seen on St Dominic's forehead during his baptism. The motto below the shield is Latin text reading Veritas, which literally translates to 'Truth'. This is in reference to the role of a Dominican, which is to preach the Truth of God.Popular culture
Many of the indoor scenes for Boys in The Trees were filmed at the College.Notable alumni
- Jason Gillespie - Australian cricketer
- Brodie Grundy - AFL footballer
- Orianthi Panagaris - singer
- Margaret White - First female judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland
- Robyn Layton - Judge
- Andrea Faulkner - Ambassador to Israel 2010 Ambassador to Myanmar 2018