Lost Schools
St Kilda was the home of many early schools. Here you will find short descriptions of some of them.
Collegiate School (1853-1860)
The Colligate School was established on 10th October 1853 by Charles Action Goslett, First Academic Scholar, Trinity College, Dublin with the support of the Anglican Church.
Alma Road Grammar (1875-1886)
Edward Littlejohn Backhouse began holding classes at Lansmere in August 1875. A year later it was trading under the title Alma Road Grammar School. In 1880 Edward decided to join his brother at Mornington Grammar and the school was taken over by H B de la Poer Wall until the end of 1885. Gordon Robinson took over as principal the following year. Then in November of 1886 Lansmere was put up for sale by the landlord. Miss Hatchell Brown purchased the freehold and established The Priory Girls School in February 1887.
Argus July 1876
Cumloden College (1891-1905)
In ca 1890 Cumloden villa was leased to William Martin Burn, a senior master at Melbourne Grammar.
The Priory (1887-1913)
The Priory boarding house
| Address | The Priory, 59 Alma Road, St Kilda |
| Date Established | 8 February 1887 |
| Date Closed | December 1913 |
Miss Hatchell Brown purchased Alma Road Grammar School (the house Lansmere), and the adjacent Sherwood Cottage on the corner of Odessa Street, in late 1886 (Argus 13.11.1886 p12) and established The Priory Girls School in 1887. In 1890 she replaced Sherwood Cottage with a Romenesque style building to serve as boarding accomodation, still extant as a house.
Miss Brown was a teacher who had previously been one of the senior staff at the private girls school at Oberwyl in St Kilda. In 1886 Miss Brown purchased two adjoining houses in Alma Road, ‘Lansmere’ and ‘Sherwood Cottage’ where she established The Priory Girls School. ‘Lansmere’ had been used as the home of Alma Road Grammar since 1875. ‘Sherwood Cottage’ was demolished to make way for this building, which was used as the headmistress’s residence and also for boarders (SKHS). Enrolments at The Priory Ladies’ School plummeted from 66 to just 27 in 1893 and the school eventually closed in December 1913 (Peel 1999:36, SKHS). Lansmere was later demolished.
