CLASSES on a farmhouse verandah and students sitting on kneelers and using pews instead of desks were among memories that came flooding back for many at the 50th anniversary celebrations of St Flannan’s parish and school, Zillmere last weekend.
St Flannan’s celebrated its golden jubilee over three days, with highlights including a school sports day on Friday; a day of reunions and reminiscing and a dinner-dance on Saturday; and a jubilee Mass on Sunday.
Bishop Brian Heenan of Rockhampton, a former parish priest at Zillmere, was principal celebrant at the Mass, with parish priest Fr John Kilinko and several other former priests of the parish concelebrating.
One of the organisers of the celebrations, Janet O’Brien, was among the original students at St Flannan’s School in 1954.
‘The first year was spent on the verandah of the old farmhouse which became the presbytery and then the convent,’ Ms O’Brien said.
One of the original teachers, Holy Spirit Sister Kath Collins, visited from Sydney to join Fr Kilinko in opening the celebrations.
Ms O’Brien remembers the dedication shown by Sr Collins and the other nuns who taught at the school.
‘Those nuns did it tough back then. I can remember them having holes in their shoes, and when it rained, the old farmhouse, which was their convent, would leak and they would have to move their beds,’ she said.
