In its later years each school developed its own administrative order, the boys being taught by the Christian Brothers and the girls by nuns.

Following the discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s and the granting of statehood to the Colony, the population of Melbourne rose quickly from 177 at the time of settlement in 1836 to 80,000 in 1854 and just seven years later that figure had risen to 140,000.

This building, known as St Mary's Star of the Sea, was to serve a dual purpose as a church on Sundays and a school during weekdays.

Prior to the establishment of a school on the site children merely roamed the streets of West and North Melbourne, often causing some havoc for locals.

The Sisters of Mercy, a religious order of nuns, arrived in Melbourne in 1857 and established a convent in nearby Carlton.

The new school was to cater for 500 students and so a two-story building of red brick, comprising nine classrooms, was constructed on Victoria Street.

The early school was partly staffed by members of the Friendly Brothers Society, a group of Catholic laymen, founded by the Rev.

Other teachers included Messrs Spellman, Birmingham, Beardman, Mullen and Cornelius O’Mahony a former Irish political prisoner.

It continued to be conducted by the Christian Brothers for some time as they had earlier established St Joseph's CBC North Melbourne a few streets away.

[10] As other local schools were developed the number of boys enrolled began to drop and by 1918 the figure stood at 430 pupils.