St Mary's College, Melbourne


St Mary's College is a medium-sized residential college affiliated with the University of Melbourne. It was founded on and still practises the Catholic tradition.

Location

The college is located on Swanston Street in Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne.

History

St Mary's College was originally established in 1918 as St Mary's Hall, catering to women mainly from the country. Formerly on The Avenue in Parkville, it moved to its present position on the corner of Tin Alley and Swanston Street in 1966. It was in that year that it became a college, the female affiliate of the Catholic male Newman College.
In 1977, St Mary's became co-residential. It now exists independent of Newman. Since its inception until 1996, St Mary's College was administered by the Sisters of Loreto.The leadership and governance of the college is now the responsibility of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Catholic Bishops of the Country dioceses.
In 2004, the Allan & Maria Myers Academic Centre, a joint facility shared between St Mary’s and Newman College, was opened. It was designed by Maggie Edmond and Peter Corrigan to reflect the overall academic vision of both colleges to enhance the educational facilities and opportunities available to the students of the colleges. The centre contains a library, tutorial rooms, music practice rooms, student lounges and information technology facilities.

Student body

It is home to around 170 students, the majority who are undergraduate students attending the University of Melbourne, although a very small percentage attend either the Australian Catholic University, Monash University, Parkville campus, or RMIT University.
The majority of students at St Mary's are from rural and regional Victoria, and some are interstate or international students. The college has a very strong sporting tradition, particularly in the disciplines of Australian rules football and netball. Its official colours are navy blue and red. In 2016 the St Mary's Women's Rowing VIII rowed their way to a drought breaking victory in second division, the first win since 1962. This victory was repeated in 2017.