[1] Following an abortive attempt to establish a settlement at Port Curtis in 1847, the township of Gladstone was surveyed in 1853 and by January 1854, Sir Maurice O'Connell was installed as the Government Resident, Police Magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands.

In 1879 the Sisters were withdrawn from Queensland and in the 1880s and 1890s Catholic pupils were educated at a school run by Mrs Annie Breslin at her residence in Goondoon Street.

[1] St Mary's Church was opened in January 1874 on the Auckland Street land acquired in 1870 but without a resident priest.

In 1882 the Diocese of Rockhampton was established under the Right Reverend Dr John Cani, the first Bishop, and the first resident priest was appointed to Gladstone in 1885.

[1] The new church school, designed by Architects Eaton and Bates, opened in January 1902 staffed by three Sisters of Mercy from Rockhampton.

In September the new presbytery was completed, a two-storey timber building erected at Dean Murlay's own expense and known as Villa Maria.

[1] To serve the projected needs of the parish more fully, the Right Reverend Dr Joseph Shiel, Bishop of Rockhampton, laid the foundation stone of a larger new church on 13 April 1924.

Between 1965 and 1970 a number of changes were made to Our Lady Star of the Sea complex including the closing of Central Lane between the convent and presbytery on one side and the church and school on the other.

Retaining walls were erected in front of the Convent and Presbytery, a parking area and basketball court bitumen coated and the sanctuary and church remodeled in line with the provisions laid down by the Second Vatican Council.

[1] In July 1982, Villa Maria, the presbytery, was demolished and in 1983 the Sisters of Mercy moved into a new convent in Morley Street.

[1] The Our Lady Star of the Sea church and school complex is situated in an elevated position overlooking the harbour at Gladstone.

The foundations of the church are concrete and the gabled roof has a modern metal cladding with a louvred fleche at the crossing.

[1] Our Lady Star of the Sea Church & School was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

This reflects the development that was taking place in Gladstone at the time and the confidence of the church in the future of Catholic education in the area.

Both buildings are prominently sited and in form, scale and materials make an important contribution to the built character of Gladstone.

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