As we prepare for our upcoming Boarding 100 event, we take a look back through the archives at the first two boarders at St Bede’s and the careers they forged after leaving.

In February 1920 two students travelled down from Napier to Christchurch to start the next phase of their education at St Bede’s in the newly established boarding school. Father John Dowling had recently been appointed to St Bede’s and it was under his care that Thaddeus McCarthy (1920-1924) and Maurice Bourke (1920-1921) travelled to their new school.

The boys arrived just before the school was to be officially opened becoming the first boarders at St Bede’s and the first students at the brand-new Papanui site. A photo was taken of the two boys standing side by side on the day they arrived which has become iconic in St Bede’s history. Little did they know at the time but standing side by side was a future Supreme Court judge and Rector of St Bede’s.

Maurice Bourke had previously been at Star of the Sea preparatory school and St Patrick’s Wellington while Thaddeus McCarthy is believed to have had his education costs covered by the Marist Fathers after his own father passed away in 1919, just a few years after his mother. Fr Dowling was instrumental in bringing Thaddeus to Christchurch to continue his education and he remained at St Bede’s for his entire secondary education.  Of their time as boarders Maurice Bourke recalled:

“We had a great spirit, we were allowed to have dirt fights, we buttered our own bread and two days a week we had rabbit pie.”

At Star of the Sea students weren’t allowed to butter their own bread making this an exciting change for the young Maurice.

Maurice Bourke went on to be ordained in 1932, and continued on to a rewarding career as a teacher, before becoming a Rector for St John’s in Hastings, then St Patrick’s and a short time as Rector here at St Bede’s.  Although he was only here for a year, he oversaw the completion of the South Wing (now Durham) and the beginning of the gymnasium/assembly hall. During his time boarding numbers surpassed 200 for the first time and the total roll had reached 450!

Thaddeus had intended to become a farmer after leaving school but the 1931 Napier earthquake destroyed the family business forcing him to choose another path. He put himself through university while working as a law clerk. Graduating in 1928, Thaddeus practiced as a lawyer in Wellington for over 20 years, famously prosecuting Walter James Bolton who in 1957 was the last person executed in New Zealand.  He was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 1957 and in the 1964 New Years Honours was appointed a Knight Bachelor becoming the first old boy to receive a Knighthood. In 1974 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and became a Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zeland’s highest civilian honour in February 1994.

Both Thaddeus and Fr Bourke returned to St Bede’s for the 1961 Golden Jubilee celebrations where they each spoke about what it was like as students at St Bede’s in the 1920s. Thaddeus McCarthy recalled:

“My mind goes back to the bleak and breadline days of the early 1920s. The building was not finished, there were no playing fields, paths nor trees. A cold westerly blew, there was no heating and a shortage of money.”

Fr Maurice Bourke recalled similar memories of the early days 40 years on from his time as a boarder:

“I came up what was no more than a cart track to a forlorn, stark building in the middle of a weed-infested paddock.”

At the reunion the pair posed for a photograph to recreate the one taken when they first arrived at Papanui all those years ago. Those two young boarders who had travelled with Fr John Dowling now a priest and Supreme Court Judge had each made history at St Bede’s in more ways than one.

References:

McCarthy, David. The Faith of our Fathers: The Story of St Bede’s College 1911-2011. Christchurch: Centennial Organising Committee,2011.

The Bedean 1924. SBCA 2020.1.2.

The Bedean 1953. SBCA 2020.1.31.

The Bedean 1964, page 39. SBCA 2020.1.42.