Secondary education, seen as a perquisite of middle-class life, suitable for the children of business and professional men and established pastoralists, was allowed to be offered by private and church bodies.

Serving poorer, often Irish, Roman Catholic, immigrant women in the area of Fortitude Valley, the school did not raise the required subscription for government aid and, in a time of bitter sectarianism within Queensland, the school maintained fierce independence in curriculum from what was seen by many within the Catholic community as attempts by a hostile secular government at interference.

1 November 1863 saw the transfer of the party from a small structure adjacent to what is now Saint Stephen's Cathedral to 'Adderton House' overlooking the Brisbane River from high upon Duncan's Hill.

Writing to Ireland with news of the move to Duncan's Hill she stated: I wish I could give you an idea of the beauty of the situation of this house.

[14] St Ann's Industrial School was opened on 15 July 1894 by the Governor of Queensland Henry Wylie Norman.

In the 1940s it was partially converted to a boarding house for young women working in the Brisbane central business district or studying at the University of Queensland.

Every student and staff member belongs to one of the eight houses which are named after people or places within the history of the school.