THE history of St Columban’s College, Caboolture has been documented in a book titled To The Fore: Snap Shots of St Columban’s 1928-2003.
The 330-page book, written by former staff member Patrick O’Shea, was launched at the college’s presentation evening on October 26.
It tells the story of how the college has kept changing, adapting and generating “saints” by the score for more than 75 years.
Principal Alain Sauvage said the book went some way towards recording the exploits of those people.
He said the decision to relocate the college from Albion to Caboolture in 1995 sent staff scurrying to capture various unique characteristics of the college so they would not be lost in the move.
“Pieces of furniture were declared sacred, along with the time capsule and the stained glass window, and of course the definitive history had to be written,” he said.
“Where else to look but at the source of story and anecdote, Patrick O’Shea or ‘Papa Smurf’, the staff’s affectionate name for Pat, who taught at the college from 1980-96?”
He said Mr O’Shea’s love of history and passion for St Columban’s ignited the spark to tell the school’s journey.
“This, the fourth of his books, traces both the milieu of the times, the personalities and the triumphs from the heights of Albion to the Caboolture plains.”
Former student Richard Rogusz, who worked at St Columban’s after the move to Caboolture, helped write the final decade of the book.
Copies of the book, which costs $49.95 (including postage and handling), can be obtained by phoning the college on (07) 5495 3111.
