St Cecilia’s Hall and School

St Cecilia’s Primary School and Concert Hall were erected on the corner of Angas Street and Chancery Lane. The Sisters used the Cunningham legacy to purchase properties between Chancery Lane and the Barr Smith House where they built the primary school and hall. The new building was blessed and opened on 8 August 1925 with a thousand people attending the opening.

 The hall could seat up to 800 people for concerts. For school use, folding doors divided the large space into two classrooms. It included a stage and a room behind the stage, which could be used for classes. Side galleries provided seating for students, while a public gallery was accessed by jarrah staircases at the entrance. The interior had oiled jarrah floors and red cement lower walls that could be used as blackboards. The rear room was completely lined with blackened cement blackboards.

The girls from the former St Angela’s Primary School in the St Francis Xavier Hall, moved into the new building as well as boys up to Grade 3 from the local parish. Both St Cecilia’s Primary School and St Aloysius College were now on the same grounds but operated side by side.

In 1957, St Cecilia’s ceased to operate as a separate school, and its students were incorporated into St Aloysius College.

St Cecilia’s Hall continued to be used by the College and became the venue for many school performances, concerts and musicals. In 1985, it was demolished to make way for the Sr Carmel Bourke Expressive Arts Centre. Before its demolition, a ‘wake’ was held for the old hall and former primary school, featuring a piano solo by Sr Carmel Bourke, who had performed at the hall’s opening as a student.