St Mary's Catholic Primary School - Darwin

St Mary’s is Darwin’s oldest primary school and the only school within the Darwin CBD. Bound by Lindsay, Cavanagh, Smith and McLachlan Streets, the school is situated adjacent to St Mary’s Cathedral and was established in 1908 and until 2002 was run by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Originally the school was called St Joseph’s. It survived the Darwin bombings of WWII although it was shaken badly when a bomb fell beside it. The school was closed down during WWII from 1942 until 1945. In 1967 the school was rebuilt and renamed St Mary’s Primary School. After Cyclone Tracy, St Mary’s was the only Catholic primary school to function in Darwin during 1975.

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a Christ-centred community aspiring for excellence in learning and teaching. We work in partnership with families, supporting and encouraging each child to make a positive difference to the world in which they live.

At St Mary’s we strive to ignite a passion for learning in all students. We believe that we need to equip our students to take their passion combined with knowledge and skills, learning dispositions and moral and ethical frameworks based on the teachings of Jesus, to enter a world beyond school and create their own fulfilling futures.