Our Buildings
Cunningham Memorial Chapel 2010,
St Aloysius College Archives
Carmel Bourke Expressive Arts Centre
Named after Sr Carmel Bourke, who attended St Aloysius College from 1920-1923 and became Principal from 1945 until 1953. She was a gifted choir director, singer and pianist as well as a lover of the arts making it appropriate that the Expressive Arts Centre was named in her honour. In 1922, cottages and small shops on the eastern side of the Barr Smith residence along Angas Street and in Chancery Lane were purchased and demolished to make way for further development of the school.
8 August 1925
St Cecilia’s
St. Cecilia’s Primary School and Hall was built on the corner of Angas Street and Chancery Lane and opened as a multi-purpose building that operated as a school and a concert hall. It was named in honour of Mother Cecilia Cunningham, whose inheritance had enabled much of St Aloysius’s expansion. Girls from St Angela’s School in the Cathedral Hall moved to St Cecilia’s and boys were enrolled to Year 3. It ran as a separate school from St Aloysius although it was also staffed by the Sisters of Mercy.
1957
St Cecilia’s Closed
St Cecilia’s School was closed and the girls from St Cecilia’s were absorbed into St Aloysius College. The hall continued to be used by St Aloysius College for assemblies, masses and school productions.
1985
Demolition
St Cecilia’s Hall was demolished. It was appropriate that the new Expressive Arts Centre, which was built on the site, was to be named after Sr Carmel Bourke as she had played a piano solo at the opening of the St Cecilia’s Hall and was present at the final farewell concert.
6 December 1986
Opening
The Carmel Bourke Expressive Arts Centre, a multi-level brick building, was designed to provide specialist facilities for music, art and drama.
By Carol Grantham
St Aloysius College Archivist, 2026
You may also be interested in
Sr Carmel Bourke
St Cecilia’s Hall and School
References
McLay, A. (1996). Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral. Sisters of Mercy Adelaide.
St Cecilia’s Primary School and Hall [Photograph]. (1926). State Library of South Australia B 3408. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+3408